THE TEMPLE-STARS.
The two preceding chapters should have suggested that if there be any
truth in the astronomical and mythological views therein put forth,
there should be other stars to deal with besides Sirius and γ Draconis,
and other temples besides those at Annu, Denderah and Thebes which have
to be studied.
This is so, and I now propose to give a general account of the
conclusions so far arrived at, but I must _in limine_ state that the
account must be a brief one and more suggestive than final, for the
reason that the lack of accurate local data stops the way.
In an inquiry of this kind it is well to work slowly out from the
known. The facts which have been given will, I think, cause it to be
generally agreed that in the temple of Isis at Denderah we have a
structure which the inscriptions, as well as astronomical inquiry, show
was certainly a temple oriented to Sirius. The other fact that New
Year's Day in the Nile valley was determined for thousands of years by
the heliacal rising of that star, is among the most familiar in the
domain of Egyptology.
Obviously, then, the first inquiry must refer to the possible existence
of other Sirian temples.
From 3285 B.C., when Sirius rose heliacally at the solstice, its
declination has varied from 24° S. to 16½° S. in 500 B.C. The
corresponding amplitudes for Thebes being 26½° and 18° S. of E.
Between these amplitudes we find the following temples:--
SIRIUS.
──────────────────┬──────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────
│ │ Sea │ Hills 1° │ Hills 2° │
│ Amp. │ Horizon. │ High. │ High. │
Place and Temple. ├──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┤ Re-
│ S. │Dec. │Years.│ Dec.│Years.│ Dec.│Years.│marks.
│ of E.│ S. │ │ S.│ │ S. │ │
──────────────────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼──────
=Karnak= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ see
(Temple O) │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │below
(Gr.) │ 26°½ │ 24° │ 3300 │ 23½°│=3150=│ 23° │ 3050 │ 1
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
=Dêr el-Bahari= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Gr.) │ 24½° │ 22¼ │ 2850 │ 21¾°│=2700=│ 21¼ │ 2575 │
=Dosche= │ 21½° │ 20¼ │ 2225 │ 19¾°│=2050=│ 19½°│ 2000 │
=Karnak= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Temple D) │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Gr.) │ 21½° │ 19½°│ 2000 │ 19° │=1800=│ 18½°│ 1600 │
=Naga= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Temple G) │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Gr.) │ 19° │ 18¼ │ 1500 │ 18° │=1400=│ 17¾°│ 1250 │
=Philæ= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Ethiopian Temple)│ 19½° │ 18° │ 1400 │ 17½°│ 1100 │ 17°│ =800=│ 2
=Denderah= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(N.W. Temple) │ 18½° │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 3
──────────────────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────
Remarks 1
This may have been a solar temple, as its amplitude is nearly equal to
that of the sun at the winter solstice.
Remarks 2
Hills high. at least 2°
Remarks 3
Hills very low.
It is quite clear that we must not look for Sirian temples before 3200
B.C., because the heliacal rising of Sirius at Thebes before that time
did not take place near the solstice. The above table shows that the
earliest Sirian temple really dates from about 3000 B.C.[85]
But what star did Sirius replace? An inspection of a precessional globe
shows at once that the star which rose heliacally at the solstice
before Sirius was α Columbæ (Phact). Its declination has varied from
57° S. at 5000 B.C. to 37° S. at 0.
We have the following temples which might have been oriented to this
star; and here I must repeat that once a star has been symbolised as a
god or a goddess on account of its astronomical utility, the cult would
be continued after the utility had ceased--that is, in this case, after
Sirius had replaced Phact astronomically.
PHACT.
──────────────────┬──────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────
│ │ Sea │ Hills 1° │ Hills 2° │
│ Amp. │ Horizon. │ High. │ High. │
Place and Temple. ├──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┤ Re-
│ S. │Dec. │Years.│ Dec.│Years.│ Dec.│Years.│marks.
│ of E.│ S. │ │ S.│ │ S. │ │
──────────────────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼──────
=Memnonia= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Western Temple) │ 58½° │ 50½°│ 3750 │ 49¾°│=3700=│ 49° │ 3550 │ 1.
=Barkal= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Temple B) │ 53½° │ 50° │ 3250 │ 49¼ │=3600=│ 48¾°│ 3500 │
=Karnak V= │ 56½° │ 49° │ 3550 │ 48¼ │=3400=│ 47½°│ 3250 │
=Abu Simbel= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Hathor Temple) │ 54° │ 48¾°│ 3500 │ 48° │ 3350 │ 47½°│=3250=│ 2.
=Dêr el-Medinet= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Gr.) │ 54½° │ 47½°│ 3250 │ 46¾°│=3050=│ 46° │ 2900 │
=Saboa= │ 51¼ │ 46° │ 2900 │ 45½°│=2750=│ 45° │ 2650 │
=Karnak= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Temple J) │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Gr.) │ 51½° │ 45¼ │ 2700 │ 44½°│ 2525 │ 43¾°│ 2300 │
=Medînet Habû= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Small J J) │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Gr.) │ 51½ │ 45¼ │ 2700 │ 44½°│=2525=│ 43¾°│ 2300 │
=Barkal= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Temples J and H) │ 47½° │ 44½°│ 2525 │ 44° │=2400=│ 43½°│ 2250 │
=Surarieh= │ 51° │ 43½°│ 2250 │ 42¾°│=2050=│ 42° │ 1850 │
=Medînet Habû= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Palace K K) │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Gr.) │ 46½° │ 40¾°│ 1500 │ 40° │=1250=│ 39½°│ 1050 │
=Medînet Habû= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Ethiopian Temple)│ 45° │ 40° │ 1250 │ 39° │ =900=│ 38½°│ =500=│ 3.
│ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
──────────────────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────
Remarks 1
Hills low.
Remarks 2
Hills nearly 2° high.
Remarks 3
The hills may be taken as a little over 1° high.
The temple of Hathor at Abu Simbel, embellished by Rameses II., was in
all probability a shrine dedicated to Amen-t-Hathor about 3200 B.C.
Amen-t seems to have been an Ethiopian goddess, for we hear nothing of
her at Heliopolis or Memphis.
It follows that if this be so, Sirius succeeded to α Columbæ precisely
as γ Draconis succeeded to Dubhe; but temples could still be dedicated
to the old Hathor α Columbæ, while this was not possible for Dubhe,
because it became circumpolar and never rose.
[Illustration: CURVES SHOWING THE DECLINATIONS OF SOME OF THE STARS
USED BY THE EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMERS AT DIFFERENT EPOCHS.]
It may also be pointed out that the temple V of Lepsius at Karnak finds
its place in a series by supposing it to have been oriented to the S.E.
instead of the N.W. as shown in Lepsius' maps. Such a mistake might
easily have arisen in consequence of its ruined condition. It may be
stated in favour of my view that I am acquainted with no temple in
Egypt directed between the amplitudes 35° and 90° N. of W.
But so far we have dealt only with the summer solstice, and yet in
Egypt there were people who lived in towns with E. and W. walls who, I
take it, must have had a worship depending upon the equinoxes.
About 3500 B.C., Antares (α Scorpii) rose heliacally at the autumnal
equinox as α Columbæ did, as we have seen, at the summer solstice.
There is not much doubt, from the symbol of Serk-t that this goddess
represented a star in the Scorpion. Further, at that date its rising
took place due east, so any E. and W. temple--and many existed in
_Lower_ Egypt--might have been then used for observations of this star.
But about the same time the southern star, α Centauri, could have been
used to herald the sunrise at the autumnal equinox.
α CENTAURI.
──────────────────┬──────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────
│ │ Sea │ Hills 1° │ Hills 2° │
│ Amp. │ Horizon. │ High. │ High. │
Place and Temple. ├──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┤ Re-
│ S. │Dec. │Years.│ Dec.│Years.│ Dec.│Years.│marks.
│ of E.│ S. │ │ S.│ │ S. │ │
──────────────────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼──────
=Barkal E= │ 33½° │ 31¾°│ 3825 │ 31¼ │=3700=│ 30¾°│ 3800 │
=Kûrnah= │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │
(Seti I.) │ 35½° │ 31¾°│ 3625 │ 31¼ │=3700=│ 30¾°│ 3800 │Hills
=Kûrnah= │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │ low.
(Palace) │ 36° │ 32¼ │ 3500 │ 31¾°│=3625=│ 31° │ 3750 │Hills
=Wady Halfa= │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │ low.
(Thothmes II.) │ 38¾° │ 35¾°│ 2900 │ 35¼ │=3000=│ 34¾°│ 3075 │
=Barkal L= │ 38° │ 36° │ 2850 │ 35½°│=2950=│ 35° │ 3030 │
=Wady Halfa= │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │
(Thothmes III.) │ 40° │ 36¾°│ 2725 │ 36¼ │=2800=│ 35¾°│ 2900 │
=Wady E. Sofra= │ 38½° │ 37° │ 2675 │ 36¾°│=2700=│ 36¼ │ 2800 │
=Memnonia= │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │
Rameses II. │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │
(Mean of Fr. & Gr.)│ 43° │ 38¼ │ 2475 │ 37½°│=2600=│ 37° │ 270 │Hills
=Kom Ombo= │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │ low.
(Little Temple) │ 43½° │ 39° │ 2375 │ 38½°│=2450=│ 37¾°│ 2575 │
──────────────────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────
It would appear that several temples were directed to this star in
_Upper_ Egypt from 3700 B.C. onward. The series of them is shown in the
preceding table.
For the vernal equinox, so far, I have found no temples besides those
directed due E. in which the rising of the Pleiades may have been
watched. It is more than probable that the worship of the sacred bull
by the Memphitic inhabitants of Egypt may have been connected with
this constellation. Certainly in pyramid times Neith and Serk-t were
both worshipped, and the goddesses under whose protection the Canopic
vases were supposed to be--Isis, Nephthys, Neith, and Serk-t--may have
symbolised the two solstices and the two equinoxes.
We may next consider the complete series of N.E. temples represented
at Heliopolis, Denderah and Thebes. These we must, as I have shown in
Chapter XX., divide into two series, dealing with α Ursæ Majoris before
it became circumpolar, and γ Draconis afterwards.
I have already (p. 208) stated that α Lyræ may possibly have preceded
both α Ursæ Majoris and γ Draconis as a representative of Set, but no
table is necessary.
The first series, dealing with α Ursæ Majoris, is as follows:--
α URSÆ MAJORIS.
──────────────────┬──────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────
│ │ Sea │ Hills 1° │ Hills 2° │
│ Amp. │ Horizon. │ High. │ High. │
Place and Temple. ├──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┤ Re-
│ S. │Dec. │Years.│ Dec.│Years.│ Dec.│Years.│marks.
│ of E.│ S. │ │ S.│ │ S. │ │
──────────────────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼──────
=Annu= │ 77° │ 57°│=5200=│ 58° │ 5050 │ 59° │ 4900 │ 1.
=Denderah= │ 71½° │ 57¾°│ 5100 │ 58¾°│ 4950 │ 59¾°│=4800=│ 2.
=Denderah= │ 78° │ 60¾°│ 4600 │ 62° │ 4400 │ 63° │=4200=│ 3.
──────────────────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────
Remarks 1.
Hills low.
Remarks 2 and 3
Hills 2° high.
The second series, dealing with γ Draconis, is naturally much fuller.
γ DRACONIS.
──────────────────┬──────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────
│ │ Sea │ Hills 1° │ Hills 2° │
│ Amp. │ Horizon. │ High. │ High. │
Place and Temple. ├──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┤ Re-
│ S. │Dec. │Years.│ Dec.│Years.│ Dec.│Years.│marks.
│ of E.│ S. │ │ S.│ │ S. │ │
──────────────────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼──────
=Redesieh= │ 77½° │ 61¾°│ 4250 │ 62¾°│=4600=│ 63¾°│ 4850 │
=Karnak= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Z and X) │ 72½° │ 58¾°│ 3100 │ 59¾°│=3500=│ 60¾°│ 3000 │
=Dakkeh= │ 69¼ │ 58¾°│ 3100 │ 59¾°│=3500=│ 60¾°│ 3800 │
=Denderah= │ 71½° │ 57¾°│ 2650 │ 58¾°│ 3100 │ 59¾°│=3500=│
=Annu= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Restoration) │ 77° │ 57° │ 2300 │ 58° │ 2800 │ 59° │ 3200 │
=Karnak= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
W │ 68½° │ 56½°│ 2100 │ 57½°│=2550=│ 58¼ │ 2900 │
=Karnak= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
[86]A M C │ 63½° │ 53¼ │ 300 │ 54¼ | 1000 │ 55° │ 1400 │
──────────────────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────
Remark 1.
Hills 2° high.
Remark 2.
Hills 1½° high. [86 ] 54½°. 1200.
The table brings before us the remarkable fact that at Redesieh and
Denderah, which both lie on the two old roads from the Red Sea into
Upper Egypt, we have the first traces of the worship of Set: in other
words, of observations during the night in that region, as we found it
at Annu.
As α Ursæ Majoris and γ Draconis were observed in the extreme north, so
several stars appear to have been observed near the south point, among
them Canopus (α Argûs), towards which star the temples shown in the
following table seem to have been directed, among them the well-known
temple of Khons at Karnak, so that provisionally we may take that
divinity as a personification of the star. Granting this, it will be
noted that the introduction of this cult into Thebes was late; this is
quite in harmony with the statements of Egyptologists, who point out
that this god has the side-lock, indicating youth, and that he was the
latest addition to the Theban Triad.
In later times the curve of declination of this star is so flat that
most accurate measures are required.
CANOPUS.
──────────────────┬──────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────
│ │ Sea │ Hills 1° │ Hills 2° │
│ Amp. │ Horizon. │ High. │ High. │
Place and Temple. ├──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┤ Re-
│ S. │Dec. │Years.│ Dec.│Years.│ Dec.│Years.│marks.
│ of E.│ S. │ │ S.│ │ S. │ │
──────────────────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼──────
=Karnak B= │ 63½° │ 54¼ │=2150=│ 53¼ │ 1300 │ │ │ 1.
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
=Naga= (_f_) │ 57° │ 53¾°│ 1700 │ 53¼ │=1300=│ 52¾°│ 300 │ 2.
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
=Karnak=(Seti II.)│ 63° │ 53¾°│ 1700 │ 53° │ 1000 │ │ │
=Karnak= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Khons) │ 62° │ 53° │ 1000 │ 52¼ │ 300 │ │ │ 3.
│ │ │ │ │ A.D.│ │ │
──────────────────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────
Remark 1.
Hills 1½° high give us 1800 B.C.
Remark 2.
Hills 1½° high give us =1400= B.C.
Remark 3.
Hills 1½° high give us =300= B.C.
When we attempt to trace the _most_ southerly stars to which temples
were erected in Upper Egypt, we find a series of temples which are very
remarkable in several respects from the orientation point of view.
Their amplitudes are all above 74°, one being as high as 86½.° They
all face South of _West_, and when their latitudes are taken into
account, the very striking thing comes out that the declination of the
star observed was very nearly the same--that is, that probably _all the
temples were founded at about the same time to observe the same star_.
The facts are as follows:--
Temple. Amplitude S. of W. Declination S.
=Edfû= 86½° 64¾° Hills 1° high.
=Philæ Y= 76½° 64° Hills 2° high.
=Semneh= 76½° 64¾° }
=Amada= 74½° 64¾° }Local conditions not known.
With regard to the Philæ temple, the amplitude is uncertain, as the
measures do not agree; but if we reject Philæ the other coincidences
are too remarkable to be neglected.
It is to be hoped that a complete survey of the island will soon be
undertaken.
Now, I cannot find any important stars to fit this declination since
7000 B.C. except Canopus and Phact, and the latter is barred because it
was used as a _rising star_, and indeed was the first solstitial Isis.
If we inquire into the conditions relative to Canopus, we find
that star had the declination of 64° about 6400 B.C., and that, as
determined by the processional globe, it then set heliacally at the
autumnal equinox.
If we assume that Canopus is in question, the break between the dates
6400 B.C. and 2150 B.C. has to be explained. There may have been
temples at Thebes now destroyed. There seems no doubt that the temple
at Philæ, lettered Y by the French and L in Baedeker's Handbook, was
the most ancient one on the island, and that the cult was similar to
that at Edfû.[87]
It will be most interesting to see whether the suggestion that Canopus
was observed in early times at Philæ and Edfû especially, be confirmed.
It is clear that for these and other southern temples an examination of
the local conditions and a determination of the places of the southern
stars are necessary before the other southern gods and goddesses can be
worked out.
We next come to the N.W. quadrant. Here, apparently, we have only to
deal with Capella and Spica. Summarising the information detailed in
a previous chapter, we find the following temples probably erected to
these stars:--
CAPELLA.
──────────────────┬──────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────
│ │ Sea │ Hills 1° │ Hills 2° │
│ Amp. │ Horizon. │ High. │ High. │
Place and Temple. ├──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┤ Re-
│ S. │Dec. │Years.│ Dec.│Years.│ Dec.│Years.│marks.
│ of E.│ S. │ │ S.│ │ S. │ │
──────────────────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼──────
=Memphis= │ 12° │ 10° │ 5500 │ 10¾°│=5350=│ 11¼ │ 5300 │
=Annu= │ 13° │ 11° │=5325=│ 11½°│ 3250 │ 12° │ 5200 │
=Karnak U= │ 27½° │ 24¼ │ 3250 │ 24¾°│ 3150 │ 25¼ │=3050=│
=Thebes= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Petit Temple │ 31½° │ 27¾°│ 2600 │ 28½°│ 2500 │ 29° │=2400=│
du Sud) │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
=Karnak G= │ 35° │ 30¾°│ 2050 │ 31½°│ 1925 │ 32° │ 1850 │ 1.
──────────────────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────
Remark 1.
32½°. =1750.= Hills 3° high
SPICA.
──────────────────┬──────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────
│ │ Sea │ Hills 1° │ Hills 2° │
│ Amp. │ Horizon. │ High. │ High. │
Place and Temple. ├──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┤ Re-
│ S. │Dec. │Years.│ Dec.│Years.│ Dec.│Years.│marks.
│ of E.│ S. │ │ S.│ │ S. │ │
──────────────────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼──────
=Karnak Y= │ 17½° │15½° │ 2850 │ 16° │ 2950 │ 16½°│=3050=│ 1.
=Tell el-Amarna= │ 13° │10¾° │=1900=│ │ │ │ │
──────────────────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────
Remark 1.
17°. =3200.= Hills 3°.
The temples oriented to Capella and Spica are discussed in the next
chapter.
The information given in the present chapter may be completed by a
table showing the warning stars available for heralding sunrise about
the times when the orientations suggest that the various temples were
originally founded.
To prepare this table I have used the precessional globe previously
referred to. The results are therefore rough, as the ecliptic has
been taken as fixed; but they are useful for the purpose of a
reconnaissance. The table shows the stars on the horizon, or near it,
at the equinoxes and solstices when the sun was 10° below the horizon.
When the star was not exactly on the horizon when the sun was 10°
below, its position above or below at that moment is indicated in
the table by giving the number of degrees the star was above (+) the
horizon or below it (-) at the time.
The dates taken are those most conveniently given by the globe, being
those in fact occupied by the pole of the equator at some one or other
of twenty-four equidistant points on a circle round the pole of the
ecliptic starting from 1880 A.D. as zero.
It will be seen that all the stars referred to in the preceding tables
occupied positions of great importance between 6000 B.C. and 2500 B.C.,
and that there are several southern stars indicated which eventually
may be useful in the discussion of the southern temples.
TABLE OF HELIACAL RISINGS AND SETTINGS.
──────┬────────────────────────┬──────────────────────
Date │ Spring Equinox. │ Summer Solstice.
B.C. ├───────────┬────────────┼───────────┬─────────
│ Rising. │ Setting. │ Rising. │ Setting.
──────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┼───────────
5675 │ │ │ Phact │
│ │ │ │
4600 │ Aldebaran │ │ Phact │
│ │ │ │
│ │ │ │
3525 │α Phenicis│ Antares │ Phact │
│ │ + 2 │ │
│ Pleiades │ │ │
│ + 3 │ │ │
[3200]│ │ │ Sirius │
2450 │ │ α Pavonis │ Sirius │ Altair
│ │ │ + 3 │
──────┴───────────┴────────────┴───────────┴─────────────
──────┬────────────────────────┬──────────────────────
Date │ Autumnal Equinox. │ Winter Solstice.
├───────────┬────────────┼───────────┬─────────
B.C. │ Rising. │ Setting. │ Rising. │ Setting.
──────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┼───────────
5675 │ Vega. │ Canopus │α Phenicis │ β Muscæ
│ - 1 │ │ │
4600 │γ Draconis │ Capella │ │
│α Trianguli│ Canopus │ │
│ │ + 3 │ │
3525 │ Antares │ Aldebaran │ │
│ - 1 │ + 2 │ │
│α Centauri │ │ │
│ + 3½ │ │ │
│ │ │ │
2450 │β Argus │ │ │
│ + 3 │ │ │
──────┴───────────┴────────────┴───────────┴─────────────
The real precedence of Capella and Spica in temple-building is not
shown in the above table, because these stars were not used either at
the solstices or the equinoxes.
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE HISTORY OF SUN-WORSHIP AT ANNU AND THEBES.
Now that we have been able to discuss with more or less fulness the
stars--very few in number--to which the temples in both Upper and
Lower Egypt were probably oriented, and further, the astronomical
requirements which they were intended to fulfil, we are in a position
to consider several questions of great interest in relation to the
earliest observations of the sun and stars.
One of the first among these questions is whether the complete inquiry
throws any light upon the suggestion made on page 85, that in different
temples we seem to be dealing with at least two different kinds of
astronomical thought and methods; as if, indeed, we were in presence of
ideas so differently based that the assumption of different races of
men, rather than different astronomical and religious ideas, is almost
necessary to account for them.
Let us begin with the apparent result of the inquiry into sun-worship
as practised at Annu and Thebes.
It was suggested that, although in the matter of simple worship the sun
would come before the stars, in _temple_-worship the conditions would
be reversed in consequence of the stable rising-and setting-places of
the latter as compared with those of the sun at different times of the
year.
Another suggestion was hazarded that sun temple-worship might have been
an accidental result of the sunlight entering a temple which had really
been built to observe a star; and that such temple sun-worship might
possibly have preceded the time at which the solstices and equinoxes,
and their importance, had been made out. I think it is possible to
show that this really happened, and we owe the demonstration of this
important fact to the Egyptian habit of having two associated temples
at right angles to each other, because this habit justifies the
assumption that at Annu the mounds and single obelisk which now remain
not only indicate the certain existence in former times of one temple,
but, in all probability, of two at right angles to each other.
The next question we have to consider is whether the researches at Annu
bear this surmise out. Let me refer to what has already been stated.
As I have shown in Chapter VIII. (p. 77), the north and south faces
bear 13° north of west--13° south of east. I have elsewhere shown
(Chap. XXI., p. 215) that there is good reason for believing that the
original foundation of the temple at Annu dates from the time when the
north-pointing member of such a double system was directed to α Ursæ
Majoris. This was somewhat earlier than 5000 B.C.
Bearing in mind the facts obtained with regard to other similar
rectangular systems, we are led to inquire whether at that date a
temple oriented to declination 11° north, that is the declination
proper to the amplitude of the member looking west, was directed to any
star.
We find that the important star Capella was in question.
Now, so far in my references to stars, little mention has been made
of Capella. It is obvious that the first thing to be done on the
orientation hypothesis is to see whether any other temple--and if of
known cult, so much the better--is found oriented to Capella. There is
one such temple; it was erected by Thothmes III. (Time of Thothmes,
1600 B.C. Amplitude of temple, 35° west of north = with hills 3° high,
32½° north declination; Capella 33° north declination about 1700
B.C.) It is the temple of _Ptah_ at Karnak.
And now it appears there is another. During the year 1892 the officers
of the Museum of Gîzeh, under the direction of M. de Morgan, excavated
a temple at Memphis to the north of the hut containing the recumbent
statue of Rameses, and during their work they found two magnificent
statues of Ptah, "les plus remarquables statues divines qu'on ait
encore trouvées en Égypte,"[88] and a colossal model in rose granite of
the sacred boat of Ptah.
These discoveries have led the officers in question to the conclusion
that the building among the ruins of which these priceless treasures
have been found is veritably the world-renowned temple of Ptah of
Memphis. It may, therefore, be accepted as such for the purpose
of the present inquiry, although it is difficult to reconcile its
_emplacement_ in relation to the statues with the accounts given by the
Arab historians.
In January, 1893, Captain Lyons, R.E., was good enough to accompany me
to determine the orientation of the newly uncovered temple walls. We
had already, two years previously, carefully measured the bearings of
the statues of Rameses. We found the temple in all probability facing
westwards, and not eastwards; this we determined by a seated statue
facing westwards; and we concluded its orientation, assuming a magnetic
variation of 4½° west, to be 12¾° north of west, and the hills in
front of it, assuming the village of Mît-Rahîneh non-existent, to be
50′ high.
Here, then, we get reproduced almost absolutely the conditions of the
obelisk at Heliopolis in a Ptah temple oriented to Capella 5200 B.C.
We are driven, then, to the conclusion that the star Capella is
personified by _Ptah_, and that as Capella was worshipped setting, Ptah
is represented as a mummy. If this be so, we must also accept another
conclusion: the temples both at Annu and Memphis were dedicated to Ptah.
About 5300 B.C. we seem almost in the time of the divine dynasties, and
begin to understand how it is that in the old traditions Ptah precedes
Rā and is called "the father of the beginnings, and the creator of the
egg of the Sun and Moon."[89]
We are driven to the conclusion that this worship at Annu and Memphis
was the worship of the sun's disc when setting, at the time of the year
heralded by Capella, when it had the declination of 10° north. The
dates on which the sun had this declination were, as already stated,
about April 18 and August 24 of our Gregorian year. The former, in
Egypt, dominated by the Nile, was about the time of the associated
spring and harvest festivals.
So much for the Ptah mummy form of the Sun-God, to which the _Theban_
priests erected no important temples. There was still another mummy
form of the Sun-God, the worship of which existed at Thebes, but which
they did their best to abolish by the intensification of the worship of
Amen-Rā.
At Thebes, as we have seen, the temple of Mut is associated with one at
right angles to it, facing north-west. The amplitudes are 72½° north
of east and 17½° north of west. I have shown that the temple of Mut
would allow γ Draconis to be seen along its axis about 3200 B.C. _I
now state that_ Spica _would be seen along the axis of the rectangular
temple at the same time_.
The cult in this temple-system there can be no doubt, I think, was the
worship of Min, otherwise read Amsu, or Khem in ithyphallic mummy form.
This was associated possibly with a harvest-home festival on May 1.
(Amplitude of temple, 17½° north of west = declination 15° = sun's
N. declination on May 1.)
Both at Annu and Thebes, therefore, before the temple of Amen-Rā at the
latter place became of importance, the sun was worshipped in a temple
pointed neither to a solstice nor to an equinox.
It seems, then, that the suggestion that _possibly_ sun-worship existed
before any great development of the solstitial solar worship is amply
justified.
We have next to consider what had taken place at Thebes, so far as
we can trace it on the orientation hypothesis after 3200 B.C., when
apparently the Spica temple and the associated Mut temple were founded.
To do this it is important to study the masterly essay by M. Virey,
entitled "Notices Générales," on the discoveries made at Dêr el-Bahari
by MM. Maspero and Grébaut, which is to be found in the new edition of
the Gîzeh Catalogue.[90] M. Virey makes us acquainted with the politics
of the Theban priests, or rather of the confraternity of Amen which
they had founded.
From his account of the confraternity and of the various attempts made
by it to acquire political power, however, we gather that it was not
only intended to intensify the cult of Amen-Rā at the expense of the
sun-worship previously existing at Thebes (in the Spica temple), but
that one of the chief aims of the confraternity of Amen was to abolish
the worship of Set, Sit, Sut, or Sutech; that is, as I think I have
proved, generically, the stars near the North Pole, and, as it can be
shown, in favour of the southern ones.
The temple of Mut was the chief temple at Karnak in which the cult of
the northern stars was carried on, and this was associated with the
Spica temple; so both these temples had to go.
We can now realise what the Theban priests got Thothmes to do. They
were strong measures, since in his day the cult of Spica (the solar
disc, Aten, Min, Khem), and γ Draconis (the Hippopotamus-and-Lion Isis)
was supreme.
The little shrine of the Theban Amen was enlarged and built right
across the fair-way of the temple of Mut, so that the worship was as
effectively stopped as the worship of Isis (when it was prohibited by
law) was stopped at Pompeii by the town authorities bricking up the
window by which the star was observed.[91]
Further, the shrine so restored was to be of such magnificence that
the Spica temple, which had hitherto held first rank, became an
insignificant chapel in comparison. Nor was this all: in order still to
emphasise the supremacy of Amen-Rā, a third-rate temple was erected to
Ptah.
It is clear from this that we must date the great supremacy of the cult
of Amen-Rā in and after the time of Thothmes III., and that the cult
superseded at Thebes was largely based upon the old worship at Annu.
Now, one of the most remarkable events in Egyptian history was the
so-called apostasy of Amen-hetep IV., some hundred and fifty years
after Thothmes III.
In the time of Thothmes III. the alliance between the royal and the
sacerdotal power was of the closest, and in no time of the world's
history have priests been more richly endowed than were then the
priests of Amen. Not content, however, with their sacred functions,
they aimed at political power so obviously that Thothmes IV. and
Amen-hetep III., to check their intentions, favoured the cults and
priesthoods of Annu and other cities of the north. Amen-hetep III.
and his son, Amen-hetep IV., also looked for alliances out of Egypt
altogether, and entered into diplomatic relations with the princes of
Asia, including even the king of Babylon. This brought him and the
priests to open warfare. He replied to their anger by proscribing the
cult of Amen, and the name of Amen was effaced from the monuments;
still the priestly party was strong enough to make it unpleasant for
the king in Thebes; and, to deal them yet another blow, he quitted
that city and settled at Tell el-Amarna, at the same time, according
to the statement of M. Virey, reviving an old Heliopolitan cult. He
took for divine protection the solar disk _Aten_, "which was one of
the most ancient forms of one of the most ancient gods of Egypt, Rā
of Heliopolis."[92] Now let us say that the time of Amen-hetep IV.,
according to the received authorities, was about 1450 B.C. The lines
of the "Temple of the Sun" at Tell el-Amarna are to be gathered from
Lepsius' map, reproduced in the illustration on the next page. The
orientation is 13° north of west.[93] This gives us a declination of
11° north, and the star Spica at its setting would be visible in the
temple.
[Illustration: THE TEMPLES AT TELL EL-AMARNA. A, The Aten (Spica)
Temple; B, the Set Temple.]
Still the light would not enter it _axially_ if the orientation is
correct. This would have happened in 2000 B.C., that is, 600 years
before the time of Amen-hetep IV. This is a point which Egyptologists
must discuss; it is quite certain that such a pair of temples as
those of which Lepsius gives us the plans could not have been
completely built in his short reign, and they would not perhaps have
been commenced on _heretical_ lines in any previous reign during the
Eighteenth dynasty. They must therefore have been commenced before
1700 B.C., perhaps in the Seventeenth dynasty. In any case they were
certainly finished by Khu-en-Aten.
Professor Flinders Petrie has been good enough, in reply to an inquiry,
to state his opinion that the temple was entirely built by Khu-en-Aten.
Should this be confirmed, it may have been oriented directly to the
sun, on the day named, or was probably built parallel to some former
temple, for traces of other temples are shown on Lepsius' plan, and I
presume Khu-en-Aten is not supposed to have built all of them.
What, then, was this worship which had been absent from Thebes, but
which had held its own to the north to such an extent that Amen-hetep
IV. went back to it so eagerly? It could not have been the worship of
Capella as a star alone, for such worship had been provided for by
Thothmes III. by building temple G. Nor could it have been the worship
of Spica as a star alone, for in that case the precedent of Annu would
not have been appealed to.
The worship he emphasised there exactly resembled that which had in
early times been paramount at Heliopolis. One based on it, but not
identical with it, had been in vogue at Thebes from 3200 B.C. to the
time of Thothmes III., who, as the tool of the confraternity of Amen,
intensified the solstitial worship, and did his best to kill that which
had been based upon the Heliopolis cult.
I say _exactly resembled_, because Amen-hetep IV., or some one of the
preceding kings of Egypt, when reintroducing the old worship at Tell
el-Amarna, orients the solar temple 13° north of west according to the
data available. Now when we take the difference of latitude between
Heliopolis and Tell el-Amarna into account, we find that the same
declination (within half a degree) is obtained from both.
Hence, at Annu in the old days, and at Tell el-Amarna afterwards, the
sun was worshipped on the same day of the year. At both places the
sunlight at sunset would enter the temple on April 18 and August 24 of
the Gregorian year; hence both temples were probably built really to
observe the sunset on a special day. In this view how appropriate was
the prayer of Aāhmes, Khu-en-Aten's chief official--
"Beautiful is thy setting, thou sun's disk of life, thou Lord of Lords
and King of the worlds. When thou unitest thyself with the heaven at
thy setting, mortals rejoice before thy countenance and give honour
to him who has created them, and pray before him who has formed them,
before the glance of thy son who loves thee the King Khu-en-aten.
The whole land of Egypt and all peoples repeat all thy names at thy
rising, to magnify thy rising in like manner as thy setting."[94]
As may be gathered from Lepsius' maps and plans, this "temple of the
Sun" was not built alone. Set was again brought to the front. There was
another at right angles to it, and while Spica was seen setting in one,
a star near γ Draconis was rising in the other.
It may be added that it was not apparently till Rameses II. built
his temple M that Set again had an available temple at Karnak: one,
however, again to be blocked when the victorious Tirhaqa and the Theban
priests returned after their exile. (See page 186.)
We see, then, that in a detailed study of the sun-worship at Thebes
alone, we distinctly trace two schools of astronomical thought
associated with different religious tendencies. As a protest against
the Southern worship of the Theban priests, Khu-en-Aten goes back to a
Northern cult. This point is evidently worth further inquiry.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE EARLY TEMPLE AND GREAT PYRAMID BUILDERS.
In previous chapters I have referred to the difference in astronomical
thought evidenced by the solstitial solar worship at Thebes as
opposed to the non-solstitial solar worship at Annu, and again by the
observations of southern stars above Thebes as opposed to observations
of high northern stars below.
There is still another fundamental difference to be signalised, and
that is the building in some cases of pyramids, with or without
associated temples, east and west true.
It will perhaps be generally conceded that the differences in thought
indicated by the building or non-building of colossal pyramids are
greater than those indicated by the two other _differentia_ to which I
have referred, and on this ground I propose to enter upon this point at
some length.
We may first inquire if there be any other class of considerations
which can be utilised to continue the discussion of the question thus
raised on astronomical grounds. It is obvious that if sufficient
tradition exists to permit us to associate the different classes of
structures which have been studied astronomically with definite periods
of Egyptian history, a study of the larger outlines of that history
will enable us to determine whether or not the critical changes in
dynasties and rulers were or were not associated with critical changes
in astronomical ideas as revealed by changes in temple-worship and
pyramid building. If there be no connection the changes may have been
due to a change of idea only--a variation in astronomical thought--and
the suggestion of a distinction of race falls to the ground.
In a region of inquiry where the facts are so few and difficult to
recognise among a mass of myths and traditions, to say nothing of
contradictory assertions by different authors in their exposition of
the inscriptions, the more closely we adhere to a rigidly scientific
method of inquiry the better. I propose to show, therefore, that there
is one working hypothesis which seems to include a great many of the
facts, and I hope to give the hypothesis and the facts in such a way
that if there be anything inaccurately or incompletely stated it will
be easy at once to change the front of the inquiry and proceed along
the new line indicated.
I may begin by remarking that it is fundamental for the hypothesis,
that the temple of Annu or Heliopolis existed, as stated by Maspero and
other high authorities, before the times of Mini (Mena) and the pyramid
builders.
Before Mini, according to Maspero, "On et les villes du Nord avaient eu
la part principale dans le développement de la civilisation Égyptienne.
Les prières et les hymnes, qui formèrent plus tard le noyau des livres
sacrés, avaient été rédigés à An."
My observations of the orientation of the obelisk at Annu show that the
temple of which it formed part may have possibly been an early member
of the series which includes the temple of Mut at Thebes, and of Hathor
at Denderah; that is, the worship of Set was in question, to speak
generically. Now, according to Maspero, Sit or Set formed one of the
divine dynasties, being associated with the sun and air gods at Annu,
_i.e._ with Rā, Atmu, Osiris, Horus, and Shou.
It is also certain that the solar temple at Annu at right-angles to the
Sit temple, was pointed north-west, and probably to Capella setting,
about 5000 B.C.
So much for the astronomical antiquity of Annu. But there are other
northern towns besides Annu for which a very high antiquity is claimed.
On this point here is the opinion of Ebers and Dümichen, two of our
highest authorities: "Dies ist die älteste Stadt in Aegypten, und das
mit ihm verbundene Abydos kann nicht viel junger gewesen sein, denn
schon im alten Reiche wird es vielfach als heilige Stadt erwähnt."[95]
The sacred character of Abydos is also pointed out by Maspero.[96]
"C'est comme ville sainte qu'elle était universellement connue. Ses
sanctuaires étaient célèbres, son dieu Osiris vénéré, ses fêtes suivies
par toute l'Égypte; les gens riches des autres nomes tenaient à honneur
de se faire dresser une stèle dans son temple."
If it be found that the references to "ancestors," and "divine
ancestors," occur after the eleventh dynasty, the race represented by
Annu, or the one which immediately followed it (? the Hor-Shesu) may be
referred to (_see_ the chapters on the Egyptian year).
Of Abydos astronomically I can only say very little, as the various
statements as to the orientation of the north-east temples there by
various authors are so conflicting that nothing certain can be made
out. As they stand they are suggestive that these temples may possibly
be associated with that at Luxor, and it may be gathered from the
description of them by Ebers and Dümichen in Baedeker that many
references to Set (Anubis) occur in the inscriptions. If subsequent
measurements indicate that Abydos and Luxor are to be treated together,
then astronomically both these places may represent a cult more
ancient than that at Annu,[97] since it would appear that in these
cases α Lyræ was the star personified by Anubis, as α Ursæ Majoris and
γ Draconis were subsequently. But if the cult were more ancient the
temple foundations were not, the first "length" of Luxor having been
built, on this supposition, about 4900 B.C. The last length built by
Ramses II. was certainly oriented to α Lyræ, by which I mean that if
the building date given by Egyptologists is correct, α Lyræ rose in the
axis prolonged--another instance of the long persistence of a cult, and
of the fact that the temples that we see are but shrines restored.
On the assumption that the above view is true for Luxor and that Abydos
followed suit, as is suggested by the imperfect orientations, we are
led to the conclusion that, taking existing temple foundations, Annu
preceded Abydos.[98]
The astronomical results, then, are certainly in harmony with the
historical statement, which I take as fundamental, that Annu preceded
Memphis and pyramid times.
These times were not only remarkable on account of the building of the
great pyramids; there was a vast change in the cult.
I have already pointed out that at Annu we seemed limited to Set as a
stellar divinity; so soon as pyramid times are reached, however, this
is changed. The number of gods is increased, and there is apparently
a mixture, as if some influence had been at work besides that
represented by Annu and the pyramid builders.
I have given before the list of the gods of Heliopolis, and have shown
that with the exception of Sit none are stellar. But we find in pyramid
times the list is increased; only the sun gods Rā, Horus, Osiris, are
common to the two. As new divinities we have[99]--
Isis.
Hathor.
Nephthys.
Ptah.
Serk-t.
Sokhit.
Of these the first two and the last two undoubtedly symbolised stars,
and there can be no question that the temples of Isis built at the
pyramids, Bubastis, Tanis and elsewhere, were built to watch the rising
of some of them.
The temple of Saïs, as I have said, had east and west walls, and so had
Memphis, according to Lepsius. The form of Isis at Saïs was the goddess
Nit, which, according to some authorities, was the precursor of Athene.
The temple of Athene at Athens was oriented to the Pleiades.
There is also no question that the goddess Serk-t symbolised Antares.
We find ourselves, then, in the presence of the worship of the sun and
stars in the ecliptic constellations in Egypt during pyramid times,
and in constellations connected with the Equinox; for if we are right
about the Pleiades and Antares, these are the stars which heralded the
sunrise at the Vernal and Autumnal Equinox respectively, when the sun
was in Taurus and Scorpio.
Now, associated with the introduction of these new worships in pyramid
times was the worship of the bull Apis, this worship preceding the
building of pyramids. Mena is credited by some authors with its
introduction,[100] but at any rate Kakau of the second dynasty issued
proclamations regarding it,[101] and a statue of Hapi was in the temple
of Cheops.[102]
[Illustration: APIS. APIS.]
The ground being thus cleared, I now state the working hypothesis to
which I have referred above.
1. The first civilisation as yet glimpsed, so far as temple building
goes, in _Northern_ Egypt, represented by that at Annu or Heliopolis,
was a civilisation with a non-equinoctial solar worship, combined with
the cult of a northern star.
2. Memphis (possibly also Saïs, Bubastis, Tanis and other cities
with east and west walls) and the great pyramids were built by a new
invading race, representing an advance in astronomical thought. The
northern stars were worshipped possibly on the meridian, and a star
rising in the east was worshipped at each equinox.
3. The subsequent blank in Egyptian history was associated with
conflicts between these and other races, which were ended by the
victory of the representatives of the old worship of Annu, reinforced
from the south, as if north-star and south-star cults had combined
against the equinoctial cult.
[Illustration: MNEVIS.]
After these conflicts, east and west pyramid building practically
ceased, Memphis takes second place, and Thebes, a southern Annu, so far
as the form of solar worship and the cult of Sit are concerned, comes
upon the scene as the seat of the twelfth dynasty.[103]
4. The subsequent historical events were largely due to conflicts
with intruding races from the north-east. The intruders established
themselves in cities with east and west walls, and were on each
occasion driven out by solstitial solar worshippers who founded
dynasties (eighteenth and twenty-fifth) at Thebes.
[Illustration: THE TWO GREAT PYRAMIDS AT THE TIME OF THE INUNDATION.]
Some detailed remarks are necessary on several points connected with
the above generalisation. I will take them _seriatim_.
We find at Memphis, Saïs, Bubastis, and Tanis, east and west walls
which at once stamp those cities as differing in origin from Annu,
Abydos and Thebes, where, as I have shown, the walls trend either
north-west--south-east or north-east--south-west.
For Memphis, Saïs and Tanis the evidence is afforded by the maps of
Lepsius. For Bubastis it depends upon the statement of Naville, that
the walls run "nearly from east to west," and with the looseness too
often associated with such statements, it is not said whether this
bearing is true or magnetic.
Associated with these east and west walls there is, moreover, evidence
of great antiquity. Bubastis, according to Naville,[104] has afforded
traces of the date of Cheops and Chephren, and it is stated by Manetho
to have existed as early as the second dynasty.
It is a matter of common knowledge that the pyramids in Egypt are
generally oriented east and west.[105] Nor is this all; there has been
a distinct evolution in their method of structure.
One of the oldest, if not the oldest pyramid known is the so-called
"step-pyramid of Sakkarah." The steps are six in number, and vary in
height from thirty-eight to twenty-nine feet, their width being about
six feet. The dimensions are (352 north and south) × (390 east and
west) × 197 feet. Some authorities think this pyramid was erected in
the first dynasty by the fourth king (Nenephes of Manetho, Ata of the
tablet of Abydos). The arrangement of chambers in this pyramid is quite
special.
[Illustration: THE STEP-PYRAMID OF SAKKARAH.]
The claim to the highest antiquity of the step-pyramid is disputed by
some in favour of the "false pyramid" of Mêdûm. It also is a genuine
step-pyramid, 115 feet high; its outline, which conceals some of the
steps, shows three stages, seventy, twenty, and twenty-five feet high;
but in its internal structure it is really a step-pyramid of six stages.
[Illustration: THE PYRAMID OF MÊDÛM.]
This pyramid must, according to the important and conclusive researches
of Professor Flinders Petrie,[106] be attributed to Seneferu, although
De Rougé had furnished evidence to the contrary.[107] Seneferu was a
king of the fourth dynasty.
We have at Dashûr the only remaining abnormal pyramid, called the
blunted pyramid, for the reason that the inclination changes at about
one-third of the height. This pyramid forms one of a group of four,
two of stone, and, be it carefully borne in mind, two of brick; their
dimensions are 700 × 700 × 326 feet; 620 × 620 × 321 feet; 350 × 350 ×
90 feet; and 343 × 343 × 156 feet.
[Illustration: THE "BLUNTED PYRAMID" OF DASHÛR.]
One of these pyramids was formerly supposed to have been built by
Seneferu; if any of them had been erected by King Usertsen III. of
the twelfth dynasty, as was formerly thought, the hypothesis we are
considering would have been invalid.
Only after Seneferu, then, do we come to the normal Egyptian pyramid,
the two largest at Gîzeh built by Cheops (Chufu) and Chephren (fourth
dynasty) being, so far as is accurately known, the oldest of the
series. (According to Mariette the date of Mena is 5004 B.C., and the
fourth dynasty commenced in 4235.)
Associated with the cities with east and west walls and these pyramids
are temples facing due east, fit, therefore, to receive the rays from a
star on the equator or of the morning sun rising at an equinox.
According to Professor Flinders Petrie, at the pyramid of Mêdûm there
is a small temple open to the west on the east side of the pyramid. At
sunset at the equinox the sepulchral chamber and the sun were in line
from the adytum. The priest faced a double Osiris.
Other pyramids were built at Sakkarah during the sixth dynasty, but it
is remarkable that such a king as Pepi-Meri-Rā should not have imitated
the majestic structures of the fourth dynasty. He is said to have built
a pyramid at Sakkarah, but its obscurity is evidence that the pyramid
idea was giving way, and it looks as if this dynasty were really on the
side of the southern cult, for the authority of Memphis declined, and
Abydos was preferred, while abroad Sinai was reconquered, and Ethiopia
was kept in order.[108]
The sphinx (oriented true east) may possibly be ascribed to the
earliest pyramid builders; it could only have been sculptured by a race
with an equinoctial cult.
_The Buildings of the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties._
We have next to consider what happened after the great gap in Egyptian
history between the sixth and twelfth dynasties, 3500 B.C.--2851 B.C.
(Mariette); from Nitocris to Amenemhāt I. We pass to the Middle
Empire, and here we have merely to deal with the worships previously
referred to in Northern Egypt.
Amenemhāt I. built no pyramids, he added no embellishments to Memphis;
but he took Annu under his care, and now we first hear of Thebes.[109]
Usertsen I. built no pyramids, he added no embellishments to Memphis,
but he also took Annu under his care, and added obelisks to the
temples, one of which remains to this day. Further, he restored the
temple of Osiris at Abydos, and added to the temple of Amen-Rā at
Thebes.[110]
Surely it is very noteworthy that the first thing the kings of the
twelfth dynasty did was to look after the only three temples in Egypt
of which traces exist, which I have shown to have been oriented to the
Sun _not_ at an equinox. It is right, however, to remark that there
seems to have been a mild recrudescence of pyramid building towards
the end of the twelfth dynasty, and immediately preceding the Hyksos
period, whether as a precursor of that period or not.
Usertsen's views about his last home have come down to us in a writing
by his scribe Mirri:--[111]
"Mon maître m'envoya en mission pour lui préparer une grande
demeure éternelle. Les couloirs et la chambre intérieure étaient
en maçonnerie, et renouvelaient les merveilles de construction des
dieux. Il y eut en elle des colonnes sculptées, belles comme le
ciel, un bassin creusé qui communiquait avec le Nil, des portes, des
obélisques, une façade en pierre de Rouou."
There was nothing pyramidal about this idea, but one hundred and fifty
years later we find Amenemhāt III. returning both to the gigantic
irrigation works and the pyramid building of the earlier dynasties.
The scene of these labours was the Fayyûm, where, to crown the new
work, two ornamental pyramids were built, surmounted by statues, and
finally the king himself was buried in a pyramid near the Labyrinth.
_The Buildings of the Eighteenth Dynasty._
The blank in Egyptian history between the twelfth and eighteenth
dynasties is known to have been associated with the intrusion of the
so-called Hyksos. It is supposed these made their way into Egypt from
the countries in and to the west of Mesopotamia; it is known that they
settled in the cities with east and west walls. They were finally
driven out by Aāhmes, the king of solstitial-solar Thebes, who began
the eighteenth dynasty.
On page 338 I have shown what happened after the first great break in
Egyptian history--a resuscitation of the solar worship at Annu, Abydos
and Thebes.
I have next to show that precisely the same thing happened after the
Hyksos period (Dyn. 13 (?) Mariette, 2233 Brugsch; Dyn. 18, 1703 B.C.,
Mariette, 1700 B.C. Brugsch) had disturbed history for some five
hundred years.
It is known from the papyrus Sellier (G.C. 257) that Aāhmes, the first
king of the eighteenth dynasty, who re-established the independence of
Egypt, was in reality fighting the priests of Sutech in favour of the
priests of Amen-Rā, the solstitial-solar god, a modern representative
of Atmu of Annu.
Amen-Rā was the successor of Menthu. So close was the new worship to
the oldest at Annu, that at the highest point of Theban power the third
priest of Amen took the same titles as the Grand Priest of Annu, "who
was the head of the first priesthood in Egypt." The "Grand Priest of
Annu," who was also called the "Great Observer of Rā and Atmu," had the
privilege of entering at all times into the _Hahenben_ or Naos. The
priest Padouamen, whose mummy was found in 1891, bore these among his
other titles.
The assumption of the title was not only to associate the Theban
priesthood with their northern _confrères_, but surely to proclaim that
the old Annu worship was completely restored.
_The Buildings of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty._
There was another invasion from Syria, which founded the twenty-second
dynasty, and again the government is carried on in cities with east and
west walls (Saïs, Tanis and Bubastis). The solstitial-solar priests
of Thebes withdraw to Ethiopia. They return, however, in 700 B.C.,
drive out the Syrian invaders, and, under Shabaka and Taharqa, found a
dynasty (the twenty-fifth) at Thebes, embellish the temples there, and
at Philæ, Medînet-Habû, and Denderah.
_Conclusion._
We see, then, that every important change of cult was associated either
with invasions from without or with some disturbance in Egypt itself,
for in no other way can the gaps in Egyptian history be explained.
* * * * *
So far we have considered the equinoctial temples as opposed to the
non-equinoctial ones in Northern Egypt. We have next to go farther
afield, and include the southern temple worship and the possible
influence of southern races even in the very earliest times.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE CULT OF NORTHERN AS OPPOSED TO SOUTHERN STARS.
So far as my inquiries have yet gone, there is not above Thebes, with
the exceptions of Redesich and Dakkeh, any temple resembling those at
Annu, Thebes, Denderah and Abydos, to which I have directed attention
as having a high north-east amplitude.
Similarly, with one or two exceptions which are probably late, there
are no temples facing the south-east below Thebes.
In short, in Lower Egypt the temples are pointed to rising stars near
the north point of the horizon or setting north of west. In Upper Egypt
we deal chiefly with temples directed to stars rising in the south-east
or setting low in the south-west.
Here again we are in presence of as distinct differences in
astronomical thought and purpose of observation as we found among those
who directed temples to the sun at the equinox, as opposed to those who
worshipped that luminary at some other time of the year.
Now with regard to the northern stars observed rising in high
amplitudes, we have found traces of their worship in times so remote
that in all probability at Annu and Denderah α Ursæ Majoris was used
before it became circumpolar. We deal almost certainly with 5000 B.C.
Since undoubtedly _new_ temples with nearly similar amplitudes (such as
that denoted by M at Karnak) were built in late times, we find so long
a range of time indicated that the utility of the stellar observations
_from the yearly point of view_ could scarcely have been in question,
for the reason that the same star could not herald an equinox or a
solstice for four thousand years.
It may be suggested, therefore, that the observations made in them had
ultimately to do with the determination of the hours of the night; this
seems probable, for in Nubia at present, time at night is thus told.
It may be that such stars as Canopus were used by the southern peoples
for the same purpose as α Ursæ Majoris first and then γ Draconis were
used by the northerners. In other words, the question arises whether
the extreme north and south stars were not both used as warners of the
dawn all the year round, after the cult had been established for use
at some special time. Canopus, for instance, was of use to herald the
autumnal equinox, 6--5000 B.C.; but it is quite natural to suppose that
its utility for night work at all times of the year during which it was
visible would soon suggest itself, and the same remarks apply to the
Northern star γ Draconis.
It is well known that in quite early times means had been found of
dividing the day and night into twelve hours. In the day shadows cast
by the sun, or sundials, might have been used, but how about the night?
We have seen that the Egyptians chiefly, if not exclusively, observed a
heavenly body and the position of other bodies in relation to it, when
it was rising or setting, so that it was absolutely essential that the
body which they were to observe should rise and set. Everybody knows
that as seen in England there are many stars which neither rise nor
set. The latitude of London being 51°, the elevation of the pole is 51°.
Hence, any star which lies within that distance from the pole cannot
set, but sweeps round without touching the horizon at all. The
latitude of Thebes being 25°, the distance from the pole to the horizon
is much smaller, and so the number of stars which do not rise and set
is much smaller. The stars which do not rise or set are stars near the
pole, and therefore stars which move very slowly, and the stars which
rise most to the north and most to the south are those bodies which
are moving most slowly while they yet rise or set. Can this slow rate
of motion have had anything to do with such stars being selected for
observation, the brightest star to the north most slowly moving, the
brightest star to the south most slowly moving? It is possible that
observations of these stars might have been made in such a way that at
the beginning of the evening the particular position of γ Draconis,
for instance, might have been noted with regard to the pole-star; and
seeing that the Egyptians thoroughly knew the length of the night
and of the day in the different portions of the year, they could at
once--the moment they had the starting-point afforded by the position
of this star--practically use the circle of the stars round the north
pole as the dial of a sort of celestial clock. May not this really have
been the clock with which they have been credited? However long or
short the night, the star which was at first above the pole-star,[112]
after it had got round so that it was on a level with it, would have
gone through a quarter of its revolution.
In low northern latitudes, however, the southern stars would serve
better for this purpose, since the circle of northern circumpolar stars
would be much restricted. Hence there was a reason in such latitudes
for preferring southern stars. With regard both to high north and
south stars, then, we may in both cases be in presence of observations
made to determine the time at night. So that the worship of Set, the
determination of the time at night by means of northern stars, might
have been little popular with those who at Gebel Barkal and elsewhere
in the south had used the southern ones for the same purpose, and
this may be one reason why the Theban priests, representing Nubian
astronomical culture and methods, were pledged to drive the cult of
Sutech out of the land.
Since, then, the observations of γ Draconis might be used to herald the
sunrise almost all the year round; and since the modern constellation
Draco is the old Hippopotamus, we can readily understand Plutarch's
statement that "Taurt presides over the birth of the sun," and why
Taurt or Mut should be called the Mistress of Darkness.[113]
It does not seem too much to hope that the continuation of such
inquiries may ultimately enable us to solve several points connected
with early Egyptian history. We read in Brugsch:--[114]
"According to Greek tradition, the primitive abode of the Egyptian
people is to be sought in Ethiopia, and the honour of founding
their civilisation should be given to a band of priests from Meroë.
Descending the Nile, they are supposed to have settled near the
later city of Thebes, and to have established the first state with a
theocratic form of government.
"But it is not to Ethiopian priests that the Egyptian Empire owes its
origin, its form of government, and its high civilisation; much rather
was it the Egyptians themselves that first ascended the river to found
in Ethiopia temples, cities, and fortified places, and to diffuse the
blessings of a civilised state among the rude dark-coloured population.
... "Strange to say, the whole number of the buildings in stone, as yet
known and examined, which were erected on both sides of the river by
Egyptian and Ethiopian kings, furnish incontrovertible proof that the
long series of temples, cities, sepulchres, and monuments in general,
exhibit a distinct chronological order, of which the starting-point is
found in the pyramids, at the apex of the Delta."
It must be emphatically stated that the results obtained from these
monuments, studying them from the astronomical point of view, lead to a
very different conclusion. Instead of one series, there are distinctly
two (leaving out of consideration the great pyramid builders at Gîzeh)
absolutely dissimilar astronomically; and instead of one set of
temple-builders going up the river, there were at least two sets, one
going _up_ the river building temples to north stars, the other going
_down_ building temples to south stars; and the two streams practically
met at Thebes, or at all events they were both very fully represented
there, either together or successively.
The double origin of the people thus suggested on astronomical grounds
may be the reason of the name of "double country," used especially in
the titles of kings, of the employment of two crowns, and finally of
the supposed sovereignty of Set over the north, and of Horus over the
south divisions of the kingdom.[115]
Only by the time of Seneferu was there anything like an amalgamation of
the peoples. He first was "King of the two Egypts,"[116] while later
Chephren called himself "Horus and Sit"[117]--a distinct indication, I
take it, that the influence of Upper Egypt was already felt as early as
Seneferu, and, I think, much earlier, although all _temple_ trace of it
is lost.
[Illustration: SHIP OF HĀT-SHEPSET LADEN WITH PRODUCE FROM PUN-T. (_Dêr
el-Bahari Inscriptions._)]
With regard to the start-point of the temple-builders who came down
the river, there is no orientation evidence, for the reason that there
is little or no information from the regions south of Naga. At Naga
(lat. 16° 18′ N.), Meroë (lat. 16° 55′ N.), Gebel Barkal and Nuri
(both in lat. 18° 30′ N.), there is information of the most important
kind, but beyond Naga there is a gap; but since important structures
were erected at the places named in early times (my inquiries suggest
3000-4000 B.C.), it is probable that the peoples who built them
stretched further towards the equator.
But although the orientation evidence is lacking for the lower
latitudes, the inscriptions are by no means silent, and over and over
again it is stated that those particular gods whom I have found to be
associated with southern stars came from a locality called the land of
Pun-t.
[Illustration: HUTS BUILT ON PILES IN PUN-T. (_Dêr el-Bahari
Inscriptions._)]
Pun-t was always considered a "Holy Land." Hathor was "Queen of the
Holy Land," "Mistress and Ruler of Pun-t." Amen-Rā was "Hak" or "King"
of Pun-t, and Horus was the Holy Morning Star which rose to the west
(?) of the land of Pun-t.[118]
Maspero refers to an ancient tradition that the land of Pun-t could
be reached by going up the Nile, where eventually one came to an
unknown sea which bathed the land of Pun-t. Was this one of the great
lakes?[119]
Brugsch[120] is of opinion that Pun-t occupied the south and west
coasts of Arabia Felix, but Maspero and Mariette do not agree with
him. The two latter authorities identify it with that part of the
Somali-land which borders on the Gulf of Aden. It is the Cinnamonifera
regio or Aromatifera regio of the ancients.[121]
The inscriptions at Dêr el-Bahari make it quite certain that Pun-t is
in Africa. Hottentot Venuses, pile dwellings,[122] elephants, to say
nothing of the products of the country referred to as among the freight
of the ships on their homeward voyage, distinctly point to Africa, and
I think a southern part of it. The Cynocephalus ape, perhaps, is more
doubtful.
The first organised expedition to Pun-t of which we hear anything is
that organised by Se-ānχ-ka-Rā, the last king of the 11th _Theban_
dynasty. This was a new traffic by way of the Red Sea. There was then
no canal in existence joining the sea with the Nile; the expedition
went by land to Coptos.[123]
They further indicate, as Maspero suggests, that the expedition of
Hāt-shepset anchored up a river, and not on the sea-shore. This, again,
makes Africa much more probable than Arabia.
If we agree that Pun-t is really in Africa, south of Somali-land, there
is a great probability that the tradition referred to by Maspero is a
true one.
It is also to be pointed out that there is no trace of the southern
star temples along the various roads to the Red Sea, while, on the
other hand, the earliest traces of northern star worship, with the
exception of Annu or On, occur along one or other of them. There is
distinct evidence that Osiris, Horus, Hathor, Chnemu, Amen-Rā, and
Khons, are worships coming from the south. With regard to Horus, it is
necessary to discriminate, since there were two distinct gods--Horus in
Northern and Horus in Southern Egypt, _and Horus of the south was the
elder of the two_.
[Illustration: CYNOCEPHALUS APE WITH MOON EMBLEM.]
The Hawk-god of Edfû, Harhouditi, the southern Horus, had for servants
a number of individuals called Masniu or Masnitiu = blacksmiths. The
Hawk-god of the Delta, the northern Horus, Harsiisit, had for his
entourage the Shesu Horu.
Now Maspero has recently pointed out[124] that the southern Horus may
have been imported, not from Arabia Felix or Somali-land, but from
Central Africa! and in a most interesting paper has called attention to
some customs still extant among the castes of blacksmiths in Central
Africa, which have suggested to him that the followers of the Edfû
Horus may have come from that province.
He writes:--
"C'est du sud de l'Égypte que les forgerons sont remontés vers le
nord; leur siège primitif était le sud de l'Égypte, la partie du pays
qui a le plus des rapports avec les régions centrales de l'Afrique et
leurs habitants."
Then, after stating the present conditions of these workers in
Equatorial Africa, where they enjoy a high distinction, he concludes:--
"Je pense qu'on peut se représenter l'Horus d'Edfou comme étant au
début, dans l'une de ses formes, le chef et le dieu d'une tribu
d'ouvriers travaillant le métal, ou plutôt travaillant le fer. On ne
saurait en effet se dissimuler qu'il y a une affinité réelle entre
le fer et la personne d'Horus en certains mythes. Horus est la face
céleste (horou), le ciel, le firmament, et ce firmament est de toute
antiquité, un toit de fer, si bien que le fer en prit le nom de
ba-ni-pit, métal du ciel, métal dont est formé le ciel: Horus l'aîné,
Horus d'Edfou, est donc en réalité un dieu de fer. Il est, de plus,
muni de la pique ou de la javeline à point de fer, et les dieux qui
lui sont apparentés, Anhouri, Shou, sont de piquiers comme lui, au
contraire des dieux du nord de l'Égypte, Rā, Phtah, etc., qui n'ont
pas d'armes à l'ordinaire. La légende d'Harhouditi conquérant l'Égypte
avec les masniou serait-elle donc l'écho lointain d'un fait qui se
serait passé au temps antérieurs à l'histoire? Quelque chose comme
l'arrivée des Espagnols au milieu des populations du Nouveau Monde,
l'irruption en Égypte de tribus connaissant et employant le fer, ayant
parmi elles une caste de forgerons et apportant le culte d'un dieu
belliqueux qui aurait été un Horus ou se serait confondu avec l'Horus
des premiers Egyptiens pour former Harhouditi. Ces tribus auraient été
nécessairement d'origine Africaine, et auraient apporté de nouveaux
éléments Africains à ceux que renfermait déjà la civilisation du bas
Nil. Les forgerons auraient perdu peu à peu leurs privilèges pour
se fondre au reste de la population: à Edfou seulement et dans les
villes ou l'on pratiquait le culte de l'Horus d'Edfou, ils auraient
conservé un caractère sacré et se seraient transformés en un sorte de
domesticité religieuse, les masniou du mythe d'Horus, compagnons et
serviteurs du dieu guerrier."
If we are to accept Maspero's suggestion that the elder Horus really
came from Central Africa, traces of the cult of his followers should be
found high up the river.
But such a search is now denied us, while in the time of Thothmes
III. it is supposed that the south frontier Kali of the inscriptions
is probably connected with Koloë in 4° 15′ N. lat. according to
Ptolemy.[125]
As a matter of fact, there is distinct evidence of the cult of the
southern stars coming down the river in the region we can get at; α
Centauri, _e.g._, seems to have been observed at Gebel Barkal before
Thebes--Sirius is too modern to be considered--and above all there is
the remarkable series of temples, apparently oriented to Canopus before
6000 B.C., which come down no lower than Edfû.
The general statement is, then, that there were two distinct groups of
stellar temples, probably built by different races, or at all events by
peoples having very different astronomical methods.
It is well to inquire here whether the dates of the various temples as
determined by the methods dwelt on in previous chapters can throw any
light upon the inquiry. Here I must re-state that in almost every case
the date of foundation so determined precedes the generally-received
date, which invariably has reference to a stone building, while in all
probability the first structure was a brick shrine merely. In support
of this view I may state that the looking after ruined shrines was
recognised as one of the duties of kingship.
"I have caused monuments to be raised to the gods; I have embellished
their sanctuaries that they may last to posterity; I have kept up
their temples; I have restored again what was fallen down, and have
taken care of that which was erected in former times."[126]
Not only did Thothmes III. find the original temple of Amen-Rā built in
brick, but he found the temple at Semneh in brick also, and he rebuilt
it in memory of Usertsen III.[127]
In the following table I bring together the foundation dates I have
found most probable, bearing the above and many other considerations
in mind. The dates are, of course, only provisional, since local data
are in many cases wanting. Where no information is forthcoming as to
the height of the horizon visible along the temple axis, I have assumed
hills 1° high, and used the dates printed in heavy type in Chapter XXX.
TABLE OF TEMPLES BUILT TO N. AND S. STARS.
──────┬────────────────────────┬───────────────────────┬──────────────
│ Northern Stars. │ Southern stars. │
──────┼─────┬─────┬─────┬──────┼──────┬─────┬─────┬────┼──────────────
Years │ α │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│Ursa │ γ │ │ │ │ α │ │ │
B.C. │Maj- │Drac-│Cap- │Spica.│Phact.│Cent-│Can- │Sir-│Remarks.
│oris.│onis.│ella.│ │ │auri.│opus.│ius.│
──────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼──────┼──────┼─────┼─────┼────┼──────────────
[6400]│ │ │ │ │ │ │1, 2,│ │ 1 2
│ │ │ │ │ │ │3, 4.│ │ ?Edfû, Philæ,.
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 3 4
5400 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Amada, Semneh
5300 │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Memphis.
│ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ │ │ 2. Annu.
5200 │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Annu.
5100 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
5000 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
4900 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
4800 │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Denderah.
4700 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
4600 │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Redesieh.
4500 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
4400 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
4300 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
4200 │ 1 │ 2 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1, 2. Denderah
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (temple built
4100 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ when both stars
4000 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ had an equal
3900 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ amplitude).
3800 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
3700 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ 1. Barkal (E).
│ │ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ 2. Kûrnah (Seti I.).
│ │ │ │ │ 3 │ │ │ │ 3. Memnonia
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Western Temple).
3600 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ 1. Kûrnah (Palace).
│ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ 2. Barkal (B).
3500 │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Karnak (Z and X).
│ │ 2 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 2. Dakkeh.
│ │ 3 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 3. Denderah.
3400 │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ 1. Karnak (V).
3300 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
3200 │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ 1. Abu Simbel
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Hathor Temple).
│ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ │ 2. Karnak (Y).
3100 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ 1. Karnak
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Temple O) Gr.
│ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ 2. Dêr el-
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Medinet (Gr.).
3000 │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Karnak (U).
│ │ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ 2. Wady Halfa
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Thothmes II.).
2900 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ 1. Barkal (L).
2800 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ 1. Wady Halfa
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Thothmes III.).
│ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ 2. Sabooa.
2700 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ 1. Dêr el-Bahari.
│ │ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ 2. Wady E. Sofra.
2600 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ 1. Memnonia
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Rameses II.)
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Mean of Fr.
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ and Gr.).
2500 │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Karnak (W).
│ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ 2. Karnak (J).
│ │ │ │ │ 3 │ │ │ │ 3. Medînet Habû (JJ).
2400 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ 1. Kom Ombo
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Little Temple).
│ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ │ │ 2. Petit Temple
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ du Sud (Memnonia).
│ │ │ │ │ 3 │ │ │ │ 3. Barkal (J and H).
2300 │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Annu
2200 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Restoration).
2100 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ 1. Karnak (B).
│ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ 2. Semneh.
2000 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ 1. Dosche.
1900 │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ 1. Tell el-Amarna.
1800 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ 1. Karnak (D) Gr.
1700 │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Karnak (G).
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ 2. Karnak (Seti II.).
1600 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
1500 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
1400 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ 1. Naga (Temple g), Gr.
1300 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ 1. Naga (Temple f).
1200 │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Karnak, (A.M.C).
│ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ │ 2. Medînet Habû
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Palace K K).
1100 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
1000 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ 1. Karnak (Khons).
900 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
800 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ 1. Philæ
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Ethiopian Temple).
│ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ 2. Medînet Habû
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Ethiopian Temple).
700 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ 1. Denderah
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Isis Temple).
──────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴──────┴──────┴─────┴─────┴────┴──────────────
Gr. = German values of Orientation.
Fr. = French "
The following general conclusions may be drawn from the table:--
I. At the earlier periods there are well-marked epochs of
temple-building revealed by the table.
II. If we can accept the possible Canopus temples referred to in
Chapter XXX., the oldest foundations in Egypt yet traced are to
southern stars. They are limited to Upper Egypt, and date from before
6000 B.C.
III. The temples to the north stars, α Ursæ Majoris, γ Draconis, and
Capella (Set and Ptah), begin in the Delta and about 1000 years later.
The series is then broken till about 3500 B.C.
IV. The south star temples to Phact at the summer solstice, and α
Centauri at the autumnal equinox, begin about 3700 B.C.
V. γ Draconis replaces α Ursæ Majoris at Denderah; north-star temples
are for the first time erected in the south at Karnak and Dakkeh in
3500 B.C.
VI. For the first time about 3200 B.C., north-and south-star temples
are built simultaneously.
VII. After this the building activity is chiefly limited to temples to
southern stars.
If we take Brugsch's dates, we find that the foundations of the
greatest number of temples were laid about the time of Seneferu,
Pepi, and the twelfth dynasty. The more modern kings founded few
temples--their functions were those of expanding, restoring, and
_annexing_. Even Thothmes III. seems to have laid no new foundations
except perhaps that of the Ptah temple at Karnak, and that is doubtful.
The wonderful Hall of Columns called Khu-mennu (Splendid Memorial),
in the temple of Amen-Rā, was dedicated by Thothmes III. not only to
Amen-Rā, but to his ancestors. It is important to see who these were
in the present connection. I give them with approximate dates.[128]
Brugsch. Mariette.
B.C. B.C.
Seneferu, fourth dynasty 3766 4235
Assa, fifth dynasty 3366 3951
Pepi, sixth dynasty 3233 3703
The Antefs, eleventh dynasty 2500 3064
The most famous sovereigns of the
twelfth dynasty 2433-2300 2851
Thirty princes of the thirteenth dynasty 2233 (?)
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE PYRAMIDS AT NURI.]
It is interesting to note that in this list the builders of the great
pyramids at Gîzeh, and all the kings who in the last chapter were
suggested as being given to equinoctial worship, are passed over
without notice. It would appear, then, that the ancestors named were
of southern origin, precursors of Thothmes in cult as well as in time.
Of these ancestors, the first--if Brugsch's dates can be taken, which,
I think, is doubtful--limited himself to southern temples; the majority
of temples built near Pepi's time were oriented to the south. The
twelfth dynasty was more catholic.
The more we inquire, the more interesting does this inquiry into the
north-star temples as opposed to the south-star temples become. These
considerations are not limited to the temples--they apply also to
pyramids. At Gîzeh we find both temples and pyramids oriented east
and west. At Gebel Barkal, Nuri, and Meroë, in Upper Egypt, we find
both temples and pyramids facing south-east, and at the first of
these places, where both exist together, we find well-marked groups
of pyramids connected by their orientations with each temple. I
can, however, find no information as to the probable dates of these
pyramids; in the absence of facts, it seems fair to assume that they
follow the dates of the temples which agree in orientation.
In the following tables I give the values for Nuri, Meroë, and Gebel
Barkal; a west variation of 8½° has been assumed.
NURI.[129]
─────────────────────────┬─────────────┬───────────────┬────────
│ Magnetic │ Astronomical │
Cult. │ Azimuth. │ Amplitude. │ Decl.
─────────────────────────┼─────────────┼───────────────┼────────
│ ° │ ° │ °
Pyramids 10, 11, 12 │ N. 136 E. │ 37½ S. of E. │ S. 35¼
Pyramids 1, 4 │ N. 137¼ E. │ 38¾ S. of E. │ S. 36¼
Pyramids 13, 14, 15 │ N. 139 E. │ 40½ S. of E. │ S. 38
│ │ │
Pyramids 2, 3, 16, 17 │ N. 145½ E. │ 47 S. of E. │ S. 43¾
Pyramids 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 │ N. 146½ E. │ 48 S. of E. │ S. 44¾
─────────────────────────┴─────────────┴───────────────┴────────
MEROË.[130]
──────────────────────────┬────────────┬───────────────┬────────
│ Magnetic │ Astronomical │
Cult. │ Azimuth. │ Amplitude. │ Decl.
──────────────────────────┼────────────┼───────────────┼────────
│ ° │ ° │ °
Pyramid 16 │ N. 102 E. │ 3½ S. of E. │ S. 3¼
Pyramid 20 │ N. 103 E. │ 4½ S. of E. │ S. 4¼
│ │ │
Temple near Watercourse │ N. 112 E. │ 13½ S. of E. │ S. 12¾
Pyramid 15 │ N. 112 E. │ 13½ S. of E. │ S. 12¾
Pyramids 14, 37 │ N. 113 E. │ 14½ S. of E. │ S. 13¾
│ │ │
Pyramid 10 │ N. 116 E. │ 17½ S. of E. │ S. 16¾
Pyramid 39 │ N. 118 E. │ 19½ S. of E. │ S. 18¾
│ │ │
Pyramid 19 │ N. 83 E. │ 15½ N. of E. │ N. 14¾
──────────────────────────┴────────────┴───────────────┴────────
GEBEL BARKAL.[131]
──────────────────────────┬────────────┬───────────────┬────────
│ Magnetic │ Astronomical │
Cult. │ Azimuth. │ Amplitude. │ Decl.
──────────────────────────┼────────────┼───────────────┼────────
│ ° │ ° │ °
Temple E │ N. 132 E. │ 33½ S. of E. │ S. 31½
Pyramid 18 │ N. 132½ E. │ 34 S. of E. │ S. 32
│ │ │
Temple L │ N. 136½ E. │ 38 S. of E. │ S. 35½
Pyramids 9, 13 │ N. 136 E. │ 37½ S. of E. │ S. 35¼
Pyramid 11 │ N. 140 E. │ 41½ S. of E. │ S. 39
Pyramids 1, 2 │ N. 141 E. │ 40½ S. of E. │ S. 39¾
│ │ │
Temples J and H │ N. 146 E. │ 47½ S. of E. │ S. 44¼
Pyramid 20 │ N. 146 E. │ 47½ S. of E. │ S. 44¼
Pyramids 2, 15, 16, 17 │ N. 147 E. │ 48½ S. of E. │ S. 45¼
│ │ │
Temple B │ N. 152 E. │ 53½ S. of E. │ S. 49¾
Pyramids 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 │ N. 153 E. │ 54½ S. of E. │ S. 50½
Pyramid 19 │ N. 156 E. │ 57½ S. of E. │ S. 53
──────────────────────────┴────────────┴───────────────┴────────
It seems quite justifiable from the above facts to conclude that the
pyramids and temples oriented S.E. and, as I hold, to α Centauri when
it heralded the autumnal equinox, were not built by people having
the same astronomical ideas, worships, and mythology as those who
built at Gîzeh due E. and W., and marked the autumnal equinox by the
heliacal rising of Antares.[132] The only thing in common was noting an
equinox, and so far as this goes we may infer that neither people dwelt
originally in the Nile Valley, but came by devious ways from a country
or countries where the equinoxes had been made out.
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE TEMPLES AND PYRAMIDS AT GEBEL BARKAL.]
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE ORIGIN OF EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY--THE NORTHERN SCHOOLS.
So far we have dealt with the dawn of astronomy in Egypt. We have found
that from the earliest times there were astronomical observations
carried on, and that practically there were three schools of thought.
To all three schools sun-worship was common, but we may clearly
separate them by the associated star-worship. We have found worshippers
of northern stars, east and west stars, and southern stars.
The northern star-worshippers we may associate with Annu, the east
and west star cult with the pyramid fields at Gîzeh, and the southern
star-worshippers with Upper Egypt.
What we have to do in the present chapter is to see whether the
orientation of the structures helps us with any suggestions touching
the question whether we have to stop at the places named and
acknowledge Egypt to be the true cradle of astronomical science; or
whether the facts we have considered compel us to go a stage further
back, and to recognise that the true origin was elsewhere; that, in
short, astronomy, instead of taking its rise in Egypt, was simply
imported thither.
It would appear from the recent work of the students of the languages
of Babylonia and Assyria that in these countries, if anywhere, there
might have been civilisations more ancient than the Egyptian, which
have already been glimpsed.
But before I go further something must be said about Babylonia itself,
for the reason that it also was the meeting-ground of at least two
different schools of astronomical thought. The facts connected with
this subject are still to a certain extent involved in obscurity, which
is little to be wondered at when we think how recently any knowledge
has been available to throw light upon the past of these regions. I
need, however, only briefly refer to them, and for this purpose shall
use the two most recently published books dealing with the question
which at present concerns us. I refer to Prof. Sayce's "Hibbert
Lectures" and Prof. Jensen's "Kosmologie der Babylonier."
But what period are we to take?
It follows from the investigation into the orientation of Egyptian
temples that the stars α Ursæ Majoris, Capella, Antares, Phact, and α
Centauri were carefully observed, some of them as early as 5000 B.C.,
the others between 4000 and 3000 B.C. I have also shown that it is
possible that at Edfû and Philæ the star Canopus may have been observed
as early as 6400 B.C. Further, that the constellations of the Thigh
(Ursa Major), the Hippopotamus (Draco), the Bull, and the Scorpion had
been established in pyramid times.
It becomes important, therefore, if we recognise this as the dawn of
astronomy in Egypt, to see if any information is extant giving us
information concerning Babylonia, so that we may be able to compare the
observations made in the two regions, not only with a view of tracing
the relative times at which they were made, but to gather from these
any conclusions that may be suggested in the course of the inquiry.
The inquiry must be limited to certain detailed points; we know quite
well already, as I have stated before, that the omen tablets, which
mention a king called Sargon (probably Sargon I. of Agade), who reigned
in Babylon about 3700 B.C., prove unquestionably that astronomy had
been cultivated for thousands of years before the Christian Era.[133]
But to institute a comparison we must leave the general and come to
the particular. I will begin with the northern constellations, as it
follows from my researches that very early at Annu and Denderah temples
were erected for their worship--the worship of Anubis or Set, as I have
shown before; that is, of α Ursæ Majoris and γ Draconis.
THE ANNU SCHOOL. THE WORSHIP OF SET.
According to Maspero, Set formed one of the divine dynasties at Annu,
and the northern stars seem to have been worshipped there. I suppose
there is now no question among Egyptologists that the gods Set, Sit,
Typhon, Bes, Sutekh, are identical. To this list possibly Ombo and Nubi
should be added.[134] It is also equally well known that Sutekh was a
god of the Canaanites,[135] and Bes is identified with Set in the Book
of the Dead.[136]
It is also stated by Maspero that at Memphis[137] (time not given)
there were temples dedicated to "Sutekh" and "Baal." In the chapter
on the circumpolar stars I have suggested that they were taken as
typifying the powers of darkness and of the lower world, and I believe
it is conceded by Egyptologists that Anubis in jackal form was either
contemporaneous with or preceded Osiris in this capacity.
In the exact centre of the circular zodiac of Denderah we find the
jackal located at the pole of the equator; it obviously represents the
present Little Bear.
Now, do we get any Babylonian connection so far as we have gone?
We learn, to begin with, from Pierret[138] that the hippopotamus, the
emblem of Set and Typhon, was the hieroglyph of the Babylonian god
"Baal."
Do we get the jackal constellation in Babylonian astronomy? Of this
there is no question, and in early times. Jensen refers[139] to
the various readings "jackal" and "leopard," and states that it is
only doubtful whether by this figure the _god_ ANU or the _pole of
the ecliptic_ ANU is meant. Either will certainly serve our present
purpose, and a leopard in Babylonia might as easily symbolise the night
as a jackal in Northern Egypt.
There seems little doubt that the jackal, leopard, hyæna, black pig
(wild boar), and hippopotamus were chosen as the representatives
of the god of evil and darkness (associated with the circumpolar
constellations), on account of their ravages on flocks and herds and
crops. If this be agreed, nothing is more proper than that the jackal
should be associated with North Egypt, the hippopotamus with South
Egypt, and the wild boar with a latitude to the north of Egypt (and
perhaps of Nineveh) altogether. The representative of the god of
darkness, then, depended upon the latitude. In this connection I may
state that Drs. Sclater and Salvin have quite recently referred me to
an interesting paper by the late Mr. Tomes[140] on the habit of the
hippopotamus when it comes out of the water to exude a blood-coloured
fluid from special pores in its skin. This explains at once why Typhon
took the form of a _red_ hippopotamus, and why Mr. Irving, on the
modern stage, couples Mephistopheles, the modern devil, with red fire.
I know not whether the similarity in the words Anu, Annu and An results
merely from a coincidence, but it is certainly singular that the most
ancient temples in Lower Egypt (Heliopolis and Denderah) should be
called Annu or An[141] if there be no connection with the Babylonian
god Anu.
With regard to Anubis, it is quite certain that the seven stars in
Ursa Minor make a very good jackal with pendent tail, as generally
represented by the Egyptians (_see_ page 276), and that they form the
nearest compact constellation to the pole of the ecliptic.
The worship of Anubis as god of the dead, or the night god, whether
associated with the Babylonian Anu or not, was supreme till the time of
Men-Kau-Rā, the builder of the third pyramid of Gîzeh[142] (3633 B.C.,
Brugsch; 4100 B.C., Mariette). Osiris is not mentioned. The coffin-lid
of this king with the prayer to Osiris "marks a new religious
development in the annals of Egypt. The absorption of the justified
soul in Osiris, the cardinal doctrine of the Ritual of the Dead, makes
its appearance here for the first time."
It seems extremely probable, therefore, that the worship of the
circumpolar stars went on in Babylonia as well as in Egypt in the
earliest times we can get at.
A very wonderful thing it is that, apparently in very early times, the
Babylonians had made out the pole of the equator as contradistinguished
from the pole of the ecliptic. This they called Bīl. With this Jensen
finds no star associated,[143] but 6000 B.C. this pole would be not
far removed from those stars in the present constellation Draco,
out of which I have suggested that the old Egyptian asterism of the
hippopotamus was formed.
Nor was this all; movements in relation to the ecliptic had been
differentiated from movements in relation to the equator. We have
inscriptions running:--
"_The way in reference to Anu_," that is the ecliptic with its pole at
Anu.
"_The way in reference to Bīl_," the equator with its pole at Bīl.
In other words, the daily and yearly apparent movements of the heavenly
bodies were clearly distinguished, while we note also
_Kabal šami_, "the middle of the heavens," defining the meridian.
So far as I can make out, when Anubis was supreme in Egypt, the only
sun-gods at Memphis and Annu were Rā and Atmu. Ptah appears to have
been a mixed sun-star god, _i.e._, Capella heralding the sunrise in the
Harvest Time.
Now I learn from Prof. Sayce[144] that in Babylonia Anu and Bīl ranked
as two members of a triad from the commencement of the Semitic period,
the third member being probably a southern star symbolised as we shall
see in the sequel; it is only in later times in Babylonia apparently
that we get a triad consisting of sun, moon, and Venus,[145] Venus
being replaced at Babylon by Sirius.[146]
To the two northern divinities temples were built; both were worshipped
in one temple at Babylon,[147] which must therefore have been oriented
due north; and the pole of the equator (the altitude of which is equal
to the latitude of the place) was probably in some way indicated.
Here there was no rising or setting observation, for Eridu, the most
southern of the old Babylonian cities, had about the same latitude as
Bubastis, in Egypt. The pole of the ecliptic (Anu) would revolve round
the pole of the equator (Bīl) always above the horizon.
So that since Sutekh = Anu
and Baal = Bīl,
the temple at Memphis to those divinities reported by Maspero (see
_ante_) must have been oriented in the same way as the one at Babylon,
that is to the north; and if the above evidence be considered strong
enough to enable us to associate the Babylonian Bīl with the Egyptian
Taurt, we have not only Ursa Minor but Draco represented in the early
worship and mythology both of Egypt and of Babylonia.
According to Prof. Sayce[148] there is distinct evidence of a change
of thought with regard to Anu in Babylonia--there certainly were
great changes of thought in Egypt with regard to Anubis. Observations
of stars near the pole of the ecliptic appear to have been utilised
before they were taken as representing either the superior or inferior
powers--before, in fact, the Anubis or Set stage _quá_ Egypt was
reached. After this had been accomplished there was still another
advance, in which Anu assigns places to sun, moon, and evening star,
and symbolises the forces of nature.
There is evidence, though unfortunately it is very meagre, that the
temple worship was very similar in the two countries.
In the ceremonials in the temples the statues of the gods in boats
or arks were always carried in procession.[149] The same rectangular
arrangement of temples which held in Egypt, held also in Babylonia, and
this perhaps may be the reason why Bīl seems so often to refer to the
sun, whereas it was the name given to the combined worship. Sometimes,
on the other hand, the worship of the stars is distinctly referred to
as taking place in a solar temple. Thus at Marduk's temple, E-Sagili,
we are told that "two hours after nightfall the priest must come and
take of the waters of the river; must enter into the presence of Bīl,
and putting on a stole in the presence of Bīl must say this prayer,"
etc.[150] The temple, then, will probably have been oriented to the
north. Night prayers in a sun-temple afford pretty good indications of
a mixed cult.
The evidence, then, seems conclusive that by the time of the founding
of the temple at Annu a knowledge of the stars near the pole of the
equator, and of the importance of observing them, was common to N.
Egypt and to the region N.E. of it. Whether the worship of Set was
introduced into Egypt from this region, or whether there was a common
origin, must for the present, then, remain undetermined.
THE EQUINOCTIAL SCHOOL--THE WORSHIP OF THE SPRING-SUN.
The East and West orientation, as we have seen, is chiefly remarkable
at the pyramids of Gîzeh and the associated temples, but it is not
confined to them.
The argument in favour of these structures being the work of intruders
is that a perfectly new astronomical idea comes in, one not represented
at Annu and quite out of place in Egypt, with the solstitial rising
river, as the autumnal equinox was at Eridu, with the river rising at
the spring equinox.
We are justified from what is known regarding the rise of the Nile as
dominating and defining the commencement of the Egyptian year at the
solstice, in concluding that other ancient peoples placed under like
conditions would act in the same way; and if these conditions were such
that spring would mean sowing-time and autumn harvest-time, their year
would begin at an equinox.
Now what the valley of the Nile was to Egypt those of the Tigris and
the Euphrates were to the Babylonian empire. Like the Nile, these
valleys were subject to annual inundations, and their fertility
depended, as in Egypt, upon the manner in which the irrigation was
looked after.
But unlike the Nile, the commencement of the inundation of these rivers
took place near the vernal equinox; hence the year, we may assume,
began then, and, reasoning by analogy, the worship in all probability
was equinoctial.
A people entering Egypt from this region, then, would satisfy one
condition of the problem. But is there any evidence that this people
built their solar temples and temple walls east and west, and that they
also built pyramids?
There is ample evidence (referred to in Chapter IX.)--although, alas!
the structures in Babylonia, being generally built in brick and not in
stone, no longer remain, as do those erected in Egypt. Still, in spite
of the absence of the possibility of a comparative study, research has
shown that in the whole region to the north-east of Egypt the temenos
walls of temples and the walls of towns run east and west; and though
at present actual dates cannot be given, a high antiquity is suggested
in the case of some of them. Further, as has been already pointed out,
the temples which remain in that region where stone was procurable, as
at Palmyra, Baalbek, Jerusalem, all lie east and west.
But more than this, it is well known that from the very earliest
times pyramidal structures, called ziggurats, some 150 feet high,
were erected in each important city. These were really observatories;
they were pyramids built in steps, as is clearly shown from pictures
found on contemporary tablets; and one with seven steps and of great
antiquity, it is known, was restored by Nebuchadnezzar II. about 600
B.C. at Babylon.
[Illustration: STATUE OF CHEPHREN, FOUND IN THE TEMPLE NEAR THE
SPHINX.]
A careful study of the historical references to the various pyramids
built in Egypt, leaves it beyond doubt that the step pyramids are the
oldest. They could, then, most easily have been constructed on the
Babylonian model, and in this fact we have an additional argument for
the intrusion of the pyramid builders into Egypt from Babylonia.
But did this equinox-worshipping, pyramid-building race live at
anything like the time required?
There is no doubt now in the minds of scholars that the evidence is
conclusive that among the kings of Babylonia were the following:--[151]
B.C.
Entenna 4200
Naram-Sin 3800
Sargon I. 3750
The date of the earliest known pyramid in Egypt may perhaps be put down
as about 3700 B.C. (Brugsch), or 4200 B.C. (Mariette).
Hence it seems that a third line of evidence is in favour of the
Babylonian intrusion. There was undoubtedly an equinox-worshipping,
pyramid-building race existing in Babylonia at the time the Egyptian
pyramids are supposed to have been built.
Another connecting link is found in the statues of Chephren discovered
in the temple at the pyramids, and at Tel-loh (ancient Lagash) by M.
de Sarzec in 1881. This last find consisted of some large statues of
diorite, and the attitude is nearly identical with that of Chephren
himself as represented in the statues in the museum of Gîzeh.
This indicates equality in the arts, and the possession of similar
tools, in Chaldæa and Egypt about the time in question. Further it
is supposed that the diorite out of which both series of statues
were fashioned came out of the same quarry in Sinai. The characters
in which the inscriptions are written are in what is termed "line"
Babylonian--_i.e._, they resemble pictures more than cuneiform
characters; and the standard of measurement marked upon the plan of
the city, which one of the figures of Tel-loh holds upon his knees,
is the same as the standard of measurement of the Egyptian pyramid
builders--the cubit of 20·63, not the Assyro-Babylonian cubit of
21·6.[152]
Now, although with regard to the cult of the northern stars it was
impossible to decide whether the Egyptian school of astronomers came
from Babylonia or from a source common to both countries, it is clear
that with regard to the equinoctial cult we are limited absolutely to
Babylonia as the special source. The coincidence in time of the same
kind of buildings and the same art in the two countries puts a common
origin out of the question.
To sum up, then, so far as we have gone, both the north-star worship
and the equinoctial worship were imported into Egypt.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE ORIGIN OF EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY (CONTINUED)--THE THEBES SCHOOL.
The next question which arises now that we have considered the facts
relating to the astronomy of Northern Egypt is one connected with the
cults which we have proved to come down the Nile. Were they indigenous
or imported?
Although I have put it forward with all reserve, there is evidence
which suggests that the temples so far traced sacred to the southern
cult are of earlier foundation than those to the north; and they
are associated with Edfû and Philæ, which are known to be of high
antiquity. This is one point of difference. Another is that the almost
entire absence of Set temples and east and west pyramids up the river
indicates that, so far as these structures go, we lack the links which
astronomically and mythologically connect the Delta with Babylonia
either directly or by common origin.
From Prof. Sayce it is to be gathered that the most ancient people yet
glimpsed there inhabited the region at the head of the Persian Gulf,
one of the chief cities being Eridu, now represented by the mounds
of Abu Shahrên on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. It was founded
as a maritime city, but is now far inland, owing to the formation of
the delta, the alluvium of which at the present time advances about
sixty-six feet a year.[153] This alone is an argument in favour of its
high antiquity.
Along with the culture of Eridu went the worship of the god of Eridu,
the primal god of Babylonia, Ea, Ía, or Oannes, symbolised as a
goat-fish, and connected in some way with the sun when in Capricornus.
This, Jensen, by his wonderful analysis (would that I could completely
follow it in its marvellous philological twistings, pages 73-81) puts
beyond question; and he clinches the argument by showing that our
"tropic of Capricorn" of to-day--the goat still represented on our
globes of to-day with a fish's tail!--was called by the Babylonians
"the path followed by Ía" or in relation to Ía.
This Ía was such a great god that to him was assigned the functions of
Maker of Men; he was also a great potter and art workman (p. 293), a
point I shall return to presently. He eventually formed a triad with
Anu and Bīl, that is, the poles of the heavens and the equator.[154]
_The God of Eridu._
Let us assume that the earliest sun-god traced at Eridu was the sun-god
of those early argonauts who founded the colony.
We are told that this god was the son of Ía, and that his name was
Tammuz; he was in some way associated with Asari (? Osiris) (Sayce, p.
144), who, according to Jensen, represented the Earth (p. 195); of the
Moon we apparently hear nothing.
This Tammuz (Dumuzi), we find, ultimately became "the Nergal of
Southern Chaldæa, the sun-god of winter and night, who rules, like
Rhadamanthos, in the lower world" (Sayce, p. 245), and as lord of Hades
he was made son of Mul-lil (Sayce, p. 197).
This was at first. But what do we find afterwards?
Nergal is changed into the Midsummer Sun! (Jensen, p. 484). And
finally he is changed into the Spring Sun Marduk at Babylon (Sayce, p.
144)[155] where he is recognised as the son of Ía and Duazag, that is
the Eastern Mountain (Jensen, p. 237).
Now, however difficult it may be to follow these changes from the
religious point of view, from the astronomical side they are not
only easily explained, but might have been predicted, provided one
hypothesis be permitted, namely, that the colony who founded Eridu were
originally inhabitants of some country where the chief agricultural
operations were carried on about the time of the Autumnal Equinox in
the northern hemisphere.[156]
This country might lie south of the equator, and indeed we find one
which answers the requirements in the region of the great lakes and on
the coast opposite Zanzibar.
Such an hypothesis may at first sight appear strange, but the view
that Eridu was colonised from Cush has been supported by no less an
authority than Lepsius.[157] The boundaries of Cush are not defined,
but they may possibly include the Land of Pun-t, from which certainly
part of the Egyptian culture was derived.
Among all early peoples the most important times of the year must
necessarily have been those connected with seed-time and harvest in
each locality. Now the spring equinox and summer solstice south of the
equator are represented by the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice
to the north of it. If the colonists who came to Eridu came from a
region south of the equator, they would naturally have brought not only
their southern stars, but their southern seasons with them; but their
springtime was the northern autumn, their summer solstice the northern
winter. This could have gone on for a time, and we see that their
sun-god was the god of the winter solstice, Tammuz-Nergal.
But it could only have gone on for a time; the climatic facts were
against such an unnatural system,[158] and the old condition could
have been brought back by calling the new winter summer, or in other
words making the winter-god into the summer sun-god--in short, changing
Nergal into a midsummer sun-god. This it seems they did.[159]
But why the further change of Nergal to Marduk? Because the northern
races were always tending southwards, being pushed from behind, while
the supply of Eridu culture was not being replenished. The religion
and astronomy of the north were continually being strengthened, and
among this astronomy was the cult of the sun at the vernal equinox,
the springtime of the northern hemisphere, sacred to Marduk. Nergal,
therefore, makes another stage onward, and is changed into Marduk!
It is also interesting to find that in Ninib, another sun-god, we
have almost the exact counterpart of the Egyptian Horus. He is the
eastern morning sun, the son of Asari (? Osiris), and the god of
agriculture.[160]
I append here the most recent translation of the hymn to the sun-god,
referred to in the Introduction:--
"O Sun (god)! on the horizon of heaven thou dawnest,
The bolt of the pure heaven thou openest,
The door of heaven thou openest.
O Sun (god)! thou liftest up thy head to the world;
O Sun (god)! thou coverest the earth with the majestic brightness of
heaven."
Marduk, then, the son of Ea, or Ía, was finally as definite a spring
equinox sun-god as Amen-Rā in Egyptian mythology was a summer solstice
sun-god.
We have, then, the undoubted facts that in Southern Babylonia, to
start with, the sun-worship had to do with the winter half of the
year. As the Babylonian culture advanced northward from Eridu and met
the Semitic culture, the winter season was changed for the spring
equinox--that is, a worship identical with that of the pyramid builders
who intruded into Northern Egypt.
_The Myths of Horus and Marduk._
In my references to the myth of Horus in Chapter XIV. I have shown
that in all probability an astronomical meaning is that the rising
sun puts out the northern stars. It was also indicated that the myth
was one of great antiquity, as it was formulated when Draco was
circumpolar; was not simple in its nature, and probably had reference
to a sun-worshipping race abolishing the cult of Set representing the
northern stars.
The facts brought together in subsequent chapters show that if there
were not such a myth, there should have been; for the temple evidence
alone showing the antithesis between Osiris-worship and the worship of
Set is overwhelming.
I have also indicated that temples built to northern stars are
geographically separated from those built to southern ones, and that
the former have had their axes blocked to prevent the worship.
The Horus of Edfû, who is represented as leading the victorious
hosts who revenge the killing of Osiris by Set, is the ally of the
southern-star worshippers whom we have traced from Thebes, possibly
to Central Africa (see page 350); and if we associate the myth with
the records on the walls of the temple of Edfû, and agree to the
possibility of that temple having been founded in 6400 B.C. (see page
311), then there must have been an invasion of the southern peoples
about that date--an invasion which reached Northern Egypt, where
eventually they were conquered by the Set-worshipping race, who came,
as I think I have proved, from a country to the N.E. of the Delta. The
question is: Did this first colony represent the original Hor-Shesu,
so-called specially because perhaps as a novelty they had _added_ the
worship of the sun to the worship of the moon? and was the moon the
first Osiris brought in by moon-worshippers with a year of 360 days?
In Accad and Sumer, where also, according to Hommel and others, the
word Osiris (Asari) has been traced, the sun-god was the daughter of
the moon-god. An eye forms part both of the hieroglyphic and of the
cuneiform name, and the eye was one of the symbols in the name of
Osiris in Egypt. Be this as it may, we have temple evidence to show
that in Egypt the worship of Set was the worship of a northern race,
and that it was finally abolished by a southern one.
Now in Babylonia exactly the opposite happened. The proto-Chaldæan
south-star and winter-sun cult of Eridu was ultimately changed,
absorbed, and buried in the Semitic cult of the northern stars Anu and
Bīl and the spring sun, first Marduk and afterwards Šamaš.
Had there been then myth-makers in Babylonia, the myth would have been
the converse of the Egyptian one. There were myth makers, and precisely
such a myth! It is called the Myth of Marduk and Tiāmat.
The chief change had been in the sun-god. When the northern cult
conquered, the exotic worship of the autumn and winter constellations
was abolished, and they were pictured as destroyed under the form of
Tiāmat, although the worship was once as prominent as that of Set
in Egypt. We have the later developed northern spring-sun Marduk
destroying the evil gods or spirits of winter; and chief among them,
of course, the Goat-fish, which, from its central position, would
represent the winter solstice.
The myth, then, has to do with the fact that the autumn-and
winter-sun-worship of Eridu was conquered by the spring-sun-worship of
the north.
If we accept this, we can compare the Egyptian and Babylonian myths
from the astronomical point of view in the following manner; and a
wonderful difference in the astronomical observations made, as well
as in the form, though not in the basis, of astronomical mythology
in Egypt and in Babylonia is before our eyes. Astronomically in both
countries we are dealing with the dawn preceding sunrise on New Year's
Day, and the accompanying extinction of the stars.
But which stars? In Egypt there is no question that the stars thus
fading were thought of as being chiefly represented by the stars
which never set--that is, the circumpolar ones, and among them the
Hippopotamus chiefly. In Babylonia we have to do with the ecliptic
constellations.
Now I believe that it is generally recognised that Marduk was
relatively a late intruder into the Babylonian pantheon. If he were a
god brought from the north by a conquering race (whether conquering by
craft or _kraft_ does not matter), and his worship replaced that of Ía,
have we not, _mutatis mutandis_, the exact counterpart of the Egyptian
myth of Horus? In the one case we have a southern star-worshipping race
ousting north-star worshippers, in the other a northern equinoctial
sun-worshipping race ousting the cult of the moon and solstitial sun.
In the one case we have Horus, the rising sun of every day, slaying the
Hippopotamus (that is, the modern Draco), the regent of night; in the
other, Marduk, the spring-sun-god, slaying the animals of Tiāmat--that
is apparently the origin of the Scorpion, Capricornus, and Pisces, the
constellations of the winter months, which formed a belt across the sky
from east to west at the vernal equinox.
The above suggested basis of the Babylonian mythology regarding the
demons of Tiāmat, established when the sun was in Taurus at the spring
equinox, enables us to understand clearly the much later (though
similar) imagery employed when the sun at the equinox had passed from
Taurus to Aries--when the Zend Avesta was written, and after the twelve
zodiacal constellations had been established. We find them divided
equally into the kingdoms of Ormazd and Ahriman. Here I quote Dupuis:--
"L'agneau est aux portes de l'empire du bien et de la lumière, et
la balance à celles du mal et des ténèbres; l'un est le premier des
signes supérieurs, et l'autre des signes inférieurs.
"Les six signes supérieurs comprennent les six mille de Dieu, et les
six signes inférieurs les six mille du diable. Le bonheur de l'homme
dure sous les premiers signes, et son malheur commence au septième, et
dure sous les six signes affectés à Ahriman, ou au chef des ténèbres.
"Sous les six signes du règne du bien et la lumière, qui sont agneau,
taureau gémeaux, cancer, lion et vierge ou épi, nous avons marqué les
états variés de l'air et de la terre, qui sont le résultat de l'action
du bon principe. Ainsi on lit sous l'agneau ou sous le premier mille
ces mots, printemps, zephyr, verdure; sous le taureau, sève et fleur;
sous les gémeaux, chaleurs et longs jours; sous le cancer, été, beaux
temps; sous le lion, épis et moissons; et sous la vierge, vendanges.
"En passant à la balance, on trouve les fruits; la commence le règne
du ma aussitôt que l'homme vient à cueillir les pommes. La nature
quitte sa parure; aussi nous avons écrit ces mots, dépouillement de
la nature; sous le scorpion on lit froid; sous le sagittaire, neiges;
sous le capricorne, glace et brouillard, siège des ténèbres et de
longs nuits; sous le verseau, pluies et frimas; sous les poissons,
vents impétueux."
Since the great pyramids were built in the time of the fourth dynasty,
it is quite clear that Eridu must have been founded long before if the
transitions were anything like those I have stated.
_The Argument touching_ η _Argus_.
But there is not only evidence that at Eridu the sun-worship was at
first connected with the winter solstice. It is known that there was
star-worship as well; and there must have been moon-worship too,
judging by the moon-god of the adjacent town of Ur.
Associated with Ía was an Ía-star, which Jensen concludes may be η
Argûs. This we must consider.
Jensen concludes that the Ía-star is η Argûs on the ground that many
of the texts suggest a darkening of it now and again; he very properly
points out that a variability in the star is the only point worth
considering in this connection, and by this argument he is driven to η,
which is one of the most striking variables in the heavens, outshining
Canopus at its maximum. Speaking generally, everybody would agree that
obscuration by clouds, etc., would not be recorded; but if the star
were observed just rising above the southern horizon only, then its
absence, due to such causes, would, I should fancy, be chronicled,
and it must not be forgotten that this is precisely the region where
the Ía star would be observed, if all of the inscriptions referred to
by Jensen are to be satisfied; its place was in "_äussersten Süden_"
(page 153). It was "_das Pendant des im Nordpol des Aequators sitzenden
Himmels-Bi'l_" (page 148); "_Ía's 'Ort' am Himmel liegt im Süden_"
(page 26).
There is another argument. Professor Sayce in his lectures reproduces
(page 437) Mr. George Smith's account of the Temple of Bel derived
from a Babylonian text. The temple was oriented east and west. In a
description of one of the enclosures we read that on the northern side
was a temple of Ía, while on the southern side there was a temple of
Bīl and Anu. This not only shows that Ía was regarded as sacred to
the true south, but that the temple buildings were planned like the
Egyptian ones, the light either from sun or star passing over the heads
of the worshippers in the courts into the temples. (Compare temple M in
the temple of Amen-Rā, page 118 _ante_.)
But η Argûs never rose or set anywhere near the south. I have
ascertained that its declination was approximately 32° S. in 5000 B.C.,
and increased to 42° S. by about 2000 B.C. Hence between these dates
at Eridu its amplitude varied between 38° and 51° S. of E. or W. Now
here we are far away from the S. point, though very near the S.E. or
S.W. point, to which it is stated some of the Babylonian structures had
their sides oriented.
The question arises whether there was a star which answers the other
conditions. _There was a series of such stars._
It may be here mentioned generally that the precessional movement
must, after certain intervals, cause this phenomenon to be repeated
constantly with one star after another.
Beginning with perhaps a sufficiently remote period, we have:--
Achernar 8000 B.C.
Phact 5400 B.C.
Canopus 4700 B.C.
These stars would appear very near the south point of the horizon at
Eridu at the dates stated, and describe a very small arc above it
between rising and setting at certain times of the year.
Now to go a stage further in the study of the Ía--Ea or Eridu--star, it
is desirable to quote the legend concerning Ía or Oannes derived from
Bêrôssos through Alexander Polyhistôr.[161]
"In the first year there appeared in that part of the Erythraean sea
which borders upon Babylonia a creature endowed with reason, by name
Oannes, whose whole body (according to the account of Apollodôros)
was that of a fish; under the fish's head he had another head, with
feet also below similar to those of a man subjoined to the fish's
tail. His voice, too, and language were articulate and human; and a
representation of him is preserved even to this day.
"This being was accustomed to pass the day among men, but took no
food at that season; and he gave them an insight into letters and
sciences and arts of every kind. He taught them to construct houses,
_to found temples_,[162] to compile laws, and explained to them the
principles of geometrical knowledge. He made them distinguish the
seeds of the earth, and showed them how to collect the fruits; in
short, he instructed them in everything which could tend to soften
manners and humanise their lives. From that time nothing material has
been added by way of improvement to his instructions. Now, when the
sun had set, this being Oannes used to retire again into the sea, and
pass the night in the deep, for he was amphibious. After this there
appeared other animals like Oannes."
[Illustration: THE TEMPLES AT PHILÆ.]
It is not necessary to give the string of "other animals" enumerated by
Eusebius, but one of them is important. A companion of Anôdaphas and
Odakôn shows the true reading to have been Anâdakôn--that is, Anu and
Dagon. This other animal, then, clearly refers to the introduction of
the northern Semitic cult, and hence the suggestion is strengthened
that some of the earlier "other animals" who subsequently appeared,
like Ía (? Oannes), may really have been new southern stars making
their appearance in the manner I have shown, and perhaps varying the
cult.
The whole legend is, I think, clearly one relating to men coming from
the south (?) to Eridu in ships. The boat is turned into a "fish-man,"
and the star to which they pointed to show whence they came is made a
god.
[Illustration: THE TEMPLE AT AMADA.]
It is evident the intrusion was from the south, because otherwise
extreme south stars would not have been in question. We have, then, got
so far. The worshippers of the southern star and of the winter months,
including the solstice, were certainly not indigenous at Eridu. They
were probably introduced from the south, and they were sea-borne.
The next question which concerns us is, was this worship in any way
connected with Egypt?
One of the most definite and striking conclusions to which the study
of temples has led, is that in Southern Egypt the temple worship was
limited to southern stars, and, further, that there is a chain of
temples, possibly dating from 6400 B.C., and oriented to Canopus. This
certainly is an argument in favour of a worship similar to that traced
at Eridu.
But is there any trace of Ía or of his son, the sun-god?
This god was, as we have seen, associated in some way with Asari. I am
told that students will probably agree that the connection between this
word and the Egyptian Osiris is absolute. Professor Sayce informs me
that the cuneiform ideograms and the hieroglyphs have the same meaning,
and indicate the same root-words.[163]
Ía was represented as a goat-fish, and was a potter and "maker of men."
This being so, I confess the facts relating to the southern Egyptian
god Chnemu strike me as very suggestive. He is represented goat-headed,
and not ram-headed, as generally stated; he is not only the creator of
mankind, but he is a potter, and he is actually represented at Philæ
as combining these attributes in making man out of clay on a potter's
wheel. Nay, according to Bunsen, he is stated to have formed on his
wheel the divine limbs of Osiris, and is styled the "sculptor of all
men."[164]
I give the following extracts from Lanzoni (p. 956):--
"χ^{NUM.}--χ^{num} [Chnemu] significa 'fabbricatore, modellatore.'
... Questo demiurgo apparisce come una delle più it antiche divinità
dell' Egitto, ed aveva un culto speziale nello Nubia nell' isola di
File di Beghe e di Elephantina.... Esso era il dio delle cataratte,
identificato al dio Nun, il Padre degli dei, il principio Umido.
Il grande testo geografico di Edfu parlando di Elephantina, quale
metropoli del primo Nomo dell' Alto Egitto, ne ricorda la divinità,
come una personificazione dell' Acqua dell' inondazione."
He is also Hormaχu, the god of the universe: The father of the father
of the gods: Creator of heaven, earth, water, and mountains; a local
form of Osiris. His wife was the frog-goddess, Hekt (? Serk-t).
Further, he was also regarded as presiding in some special way over
water,[165] and, unlike Amen-Rā, though like Ía, he has a position
among the gods of the lower world.
A sun-god, with uræus and disk, he is closely associated with Amen-Rā,
and if he were one of the earliest of the South Egyptian gods this
could only be by Amen-Rā being an emanation from him; the temples in
any case do not afford us traces of Amen-Rā before 3700 B.C., and
Chnemu is recognised as one of the oldest gods in Egypt, on the same
platform as Ptah in the North. If we assume a connection with Eridu,
then we are driven to the conclusion that the Eridu culture came either
from Egypt or from a common source.
[Illustration: CHNEMU.]
Here for the present the question must be left. I must be content to
remark that many of the facts point to a common origin south of the
equator. It is clear that if Chnemu were a sun-god of the _Winter_,
brought into Egypt from without, the change to Amen-Rā is precisely
what would have been certain to happen, for in Egypt the Summer
Solstice, over which Amen-Rā presided, was all-important.
_Anthropological Evidence._
It will be seen, then, that a general survey of Egyptian history
does suggest conflicts between two races, and this of course goes to
strengthen the view that the temple-building phenomena suggest two
different worships, depending upon race distinctions.
We have next to ask if there is any anthropological evidence at our
disposal. It so happens that Virchow has directed his attention to this
very point.
Premising that a strong race distinction is recognised between peoples
having brachycephalic or short, and dolichocephalic or long, skulls,
and that the African races belong to the latter group, I may give the
following extract from his paper:--
"The craniological type in the Ancient Empire was different from
that in the middle and new. The skulls from the Ancient Empire are
brachycephalic, those from the new and of the present day are either
dolichocephalic or mesaticephalic; the difference is therefore at least
as great as that between the dolichocephalic skulls of the Frankish
graves and the predominantly brachycephalic skulls of the present
population of South Germany. I do not deny that we have hitherto
had at our disposal only a very limited number of skulls from the
Ancient Empire which have been certainly determined; that therefore
the question whether the brachycephalic skull-type deduced from these
was the general or a least the predominant one cannot yet be answered
with certainty; but I may appeal to the fact that the sculptors of the
Ancient Empire made the brachycephalic type the basis of their works of
art too."
It will be seen, then, that the anthropological as well as the
historical evidence runs on all fours with the results to be obtained
from such a study of the old astronomy as the temples afford us.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AS TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH RACES.
It is now time to summarise the evidence concerning the north and south
temple builders, including those who built pyramids as well.
To do this we must deal not only with the buildings, but with the
associated mythology, or, rather, with the astronomical part of the
mythology, for there seems to be very little doubt that in the earliest
times, before knowledge replaced or controlled imagination, everything
was mythologically everything else in turn. It is for this reason that
trusting to genealogies especially seems like building on sand. That
Father-ship and Son-ship in the earliest days were mythologically
something quite different from what the words in their strict sense
imply to-day will be agreed to by everybody; and there is evidence that
many of the absolute contradictions met with, and statements which it
is impossible to reconcile, may all depend upon the point of view from
which the mythological statements were made.
But when astronomy helps us to _the point of view_, the mythological
statements, and even the genealogies, become much clearer and
unmistakable, and contradiction vanishes to a great extent; and it
would seem as if genealogies _en bloc_ were never propounded, hence it
was a commonplace either that a god should be the father of his mother,
or that he should have no father.
Thus, in one sense, Rā is father of all the gods; but in another Ptah
is the creator of the egg of the sun because Capella setting heralded
sunrise at a particular time of the year; and Isis is the _mother_ of
Horus because Phact = α Columbæ, Serk-t = α Centauri, Mut = γ Draconis,
and other stars (Isis) did precisely the same; while in another
connection Isis is the sister of Osiris, and therefore the _mother_
of Horus. But here the relationship depends upon the association of
the moon and warning star in the morning sky. I only offer these as
suggestions; similar variations might be multiplied _ad nauseam_.
But while all this proves that genealogies may be manufactured without
either end or utility, we gather that the association of mythological
personages with definite astronomical bodies may in time be of great
help in such inquiries, and ultimately enable us to raise the veil of
mystery by which these old ideas have of set purpose, and partly by
these means, been hidden.
There seems no doubt that we have got definite evidence that the very
oldest mythological personages were closely connected either with the
sun at some special time of the year, with the moon, or with the rising
and setting of some star or another. Hence we ought to be able from the
temple evidence to classify the northern and southern gods.
_Northern Gods and Goddesses._
GOD. GODDESS.
Ptah = Capella, April sun (1) Bast-Isis = α Ursæ Majoris.
Anubis = Northern constellations. Taurt-Isis = {α Ursæ Majoris.
{γ Draconis.
{Min:
{Khem = May Sun (2). Menat-Isis Spica.
Autumn Sun Serk-t-Isis Antares.
Spring Sun Nit-Isis Pleiades.
_Southern Gods and Goddesses._
Osiris = Moon-god.
Chnemu = Sun-god, autumnal equinox.
Khonsu = Canopus, autumnal equinox, warner.
West horizon
followed by Serk-t = α Centauri
east horizon.
Amen-Rā A combined north and Teχi-Isis } Phact (1)
south god, established Amen-t-Isis } Sirius (2)
about 3700 B.C. Hathor-Isis }
The establishment of Amen-Rā gives us a fair indication of the changes
which must have taken place among the early civilisations when the
beginning of the year was altered. There can be no doubt, I think,
that Chnemu was the first Sun-god of Southern Egypt; the cryosphinxes
at Thebes are alone sufficient to prove it;[166] and if so, then the
southern people must have come from a region where the autumnal equinox
marked the most important time of the year for their agricultural
operations. And this year had eventually to give way, as we know it
did, about 3700 B.C., for one beginning at the summer solstice.
In the above list I have indicated Osiris as a Moon-god. Many
inscriptions might be quoted similar to the following one:--
"Salute a te, Hesiri, il signore dell' eternità. Quando tu sei in
Cielo, tu apparisci come sole, et tu rinnuovi la tua forma comme
Luna."[167]
It has also to be borne in mind that the complicated head-dress,
including the goat's horns, is represented in connection with Thoth
Chnemu and Osiris.[168]
Later he was unquestionably a sun-god, but this would be certain to
happen if the southern intruders worshipped the moon in the first line.
Further, if in later times he represented both sun and moon, as he
certainly did, it is not probable that he did so from the beginning.
All the special symbolism refers to him as a Moon-god; he is certainly
a Moon-god in the myth of Isis and Osiris, for he was cut into fourteen
pieces, the number of days of the waning moon.
Now, we can easily understand an evolution beginning with a Moon-god
and ending with a Sun-god. But the contrary is almost unthinkable;
besides, we know that in Egypt it did not happen; the solar attributes
got hardened as time went on. The calendar evidence, as we have
seen, in relation to the original year of 360 days is in favour of
Moon-worship, and therefore of a Moon-god in the earliest times.
Further, if we accept this, the myth of Horus becomes a complete
historical statement, of which parts have already been shown to refer
to astronomical facts past all dispute. It is well here to give
Naville's remarks upon it. It will be seen that they strengthen my
view.[169]
"La 363^{me} année de son règne, le dieu part avec son fils pour
l'Égypte. Voilà donc une date précise de l'un de ces rois qui, selon
les traditions égyptiennes, avaient occupé le trône de l'Égypte avant
les souverains indigènes. Cette année-là, Horhut chassé Typhon de
l'Égypte, et s'établit en roi sur tout le pays. Cela concorderait donc
avec ce que nous disent Manéthon et Eusèbe, que, dans la première
dynastie des dieux, Typhon précéda immédiatement Horus. La succession
se serait faite par droit de conquête.
"Horus a avec lui des compagnons qui sont nommés partout ses suivants:
les Schesou Hor. M. de Rougé a déjà fait remarquer que, dans plusieurs
inscriptions, ces hommes sont considérés comme les habitants primitifs
de l'Égypte, les contemporains des dynasties divines. Ce sont ces
Mesennou dont il a déjà été question dans la série précédente. Le
rôle qu'ils jouent dans ce récit montre, plus clairement encore, que
l'époque dont il s'agit est la fin des temps mythologiques auxquels
Ména devait succéder. C'est une tradition relative aux événements qui
ne doivent avoir précédé que de peu les temps historiques.
"Horhut monte dans la barque de son père, qui le suit pendant toute
l'expédition, et lui donné son appui et ses conseils. Les dieux
poursuivent Typhon tout le long du fleuve; Horhut livre plusieurs
batailles dans des lieux qui recevront des noms propres à rappeler
ses exploits, et qui seront plus particulièrement voués à son culte.
C'est à Edfon qu'ont lieu les premiers combats, puis dans le 16^{me}
nome de la Haute-Égypte. Le nome de Mert, celui du Fayoum et du lac
Moeris, est le théâtre de plusieurs épisodes de la lutte. C'est dans
la ville de Sutenchenen, appelée ici Nanrutef, un sanctuaire important
d'Osiris, que s'établissent les Schesou Hor. Enfin, lorsque Set a été
chassé du nome de Chent-ab, le 14^{me} de la Basse-Égypte, le pays est
délivré, et la royauté est assurée à Horhut. Son père, qui, à chaque
nouvelle victoire, lui a décerné quelque honneur special, lui accorde
d'être représenté sous la formé du disque ailé, ou du scarabée, sur
tous les temples de la Haute et de la Basse-Égypte. Horus devient le
seigneur des deux régions, s'assied dans un sanctuaire ou il est adoré
comme Horchuti, avec qui il finit par se confondre.
"Telle est cette seconde légende, bien mieux caractérisée que la
première, car elle est rattachée à des localités connues et à une
époque déterminée. Elle me semble même assez claire pour qu'on puisse
y voir une tradition, qui aurait à sa base un fait historique. Set
est un dieu bien connu dans l'histoire d'Égypte; c'est le dieu
des ennemis, et particulièrement des populations sémitiques, qui
conquirent une fois le pays et le mirent souvent en danger. Si nous
considérons qu'il est chassé par Horus, le dieu qui lui a succédé dans
la royauté, et par les habitants primitifs du pays à un moment donné
des annales divines, n'est-il pas naturel d'expliquer ce mythe par une
guerre entre les Égyptiens venus de Nubie, et les Sémites qui auraient
été chassés du pays; soit que cette guerre soit plus ancienne que les
temps historiques, soit que, venue plus tard, elle ait passé dans le
domaine de l'histoire légendaire? Les textes relatifs aux dynasties
divines sont encore trop rares pour que nous puissions pousser
très-loin ces recherches. Le temple d'Edfou nous fournira peut-être un
jour de nouvelles indications sur ces époques préhistoriques, et sur
l'origine si mysterieuse de la civilisation de l'Égypte."
[Illustration: THE WINGED SOLAR DISK.]
In another passage Naville remarks:
"Typhon n'est pas simplement le dieu du mal, l'adversaire personnel
d'Osiris, c'est un souverain qui occupe avec ses alliés la plus grande
partie de l'Égypte depuis Edfou jusqu'a l'Orient du Delta."[170]
It was suggested (page 154) that Horus slaying Set represented by a
hippopotamus was a reference to a time antecedent to 5000 B.C., when
the constellation of Draco was circumpolar; and we now learn from
Chapter XXXII. that Set represented the Northern-Star worship brought
in from the N.E.
Horus, then, represented a conquering force coming from the South.
He was recognised as a Southern god. Naville remarks:
"Horchuti est par excellence le dieu de la Nubie; c'est à lui que sont
consacrés plusieurs des temples pharaoniques qui existent le long du
Nil entre Ouadi-Halfa et Philæ."[171]
But this is not all. The sequence of the Divine Dynasties is as
follows, according to Maspero:--[172]
Atmu.
Rā
Shou
Sibou [Seb]
Osiris
Set
Horus
Neglecting the first four, we find Osiris preceding Set, and are driven
to the conclusion that in Osiris, in this connection, we are dealing
with the Moon, for the Sun-gods Atmu and Rā head the list. Besides, the
worship of Set did not kill the worship of the _Sun_, for the power of
Rā finally became paramount.
We must hold, then, that the Southern Sun-god Horus, the son of Osiris,
was the son of a Moon-god, and it becomes necessary to inquire if such
an idea occurred to other early peoples. Professor Sayce[173] tells
us--
"According to the official religion of Chaldæa, the Sun-god was the
offspring of the Moon-god," and he adds, "Such a belief could have
arisen only where the Moon-god was the supreme object of worship....
To the Semite the Sun-god was the lord and father of the gods."[174]
If we, then, with this precedent, are prepared to take Osiris as the
Moon-god of the Southern race, there is no doubt that the first Sun-god
was Chnemu, and the first Southern Star-god--the star which heralded
sunrise at the Autumnal Equinox--Khonsu (Canopus). Thoth also must
be named, for it is certain that the Calendar which he leads was of
Southern origin, because New Year's Day at the Summer Solstice was
heralded first by Phact and afterwards by Sirius, both Southern stars.
There is likewise ample temple evidence to show that the Autumnal
Equinoctial Sun was also heralded, and in even earlier times, first
by Canopus and next by α Centauri, and it becomes a question whether
the original moon-calendar of Thoth did not refer to a year beginning
at the Autumnal Equinox. This is a suggestion resulting from later
inquiries, and hence I have not referred to it in the chapters on the
year.
And here, perhaps, in their dependence upon the Moon-god Osiris, we
find the real reason that Khonsu and Thoth have lunar instead of solar
emblems; Thoth led the initial lunar year, Khonsu only heralded the
advent of the son of the Moon.
If this be so, before the foundation of the temple of Annu by "la
grande tribu des Anou,"[175] the Southern (originally Moon-worshipping)
race had already made its appearance in force in Northern Egypt,
otherwise the divine dynasties would not have included Osiris; we need
not be astonished that the temple evidence has disappeared there. The
most northern ancient temple of Osiris was at Abydos; that also has
gone, while those at Philæ and Edfû remain, the latter, at some time
subsequent to its original foundation, dedicated to a _female_ Horus.
These things being presumed, we can now bring together in a working
hypothesis the temple evidence so far as it bears upon the mythology
and interaction of the North-and South-Star worshippers.
Date B.C.
Osiris}
6400 A swarm from the south with Thoth } Moon Gods.
Khonsu}
Chnemu (Sun God).
come down the River.
They find a population worshipping Rā and Atmu. Possibly they
were merely worshippers of the dawn and twilight.
The Moon worship is accepted as an addition, and _the divine
dynasty of Osiris_ begins.
The swarm brings a lunar year of 360 days with it, and the
Egyptian Calendar beginning I. Thoth commences.
They build temples at Amada, Semneh, Philæ, Edfû, and probably
Abydos. All these were probably Osiris temples, so called
because Osiris, the Moon-god, was the chief deity, and they
were used for the determination of the Sun's place at the
Autumnal Equinox, at which time their lunar year probably
began.
5400 A swarm, or swarms, from the N.E. One certainly comes by the
Red Sea, and founds temples at Redisieh and Denderah;
another may have come over the isthmus and founded Annu.
They bring the worship of _Anu_.[176]
The _Divine dynasty_ of Set is founded, and we can imagine
religious strifes between the partisans of the new northern
cult and the southern moon-worshippers.
These people might have come either from North Babylonia, or
other swarms of the same race may have invaded North
Babylonia at the same time.
±5000 [This date is fixed by Hippopotamus not being circumpolar after
it. It might have been much earlier, but not much later.]
Horus with his "blacksmiths" comes down the river to revenge his
"father Osiris" by killing his murderer Set (the
Hippopotamus). The 6400 B.C. people, who came from the
South, had been worsted by the last (5400 B.C.) swarm from
the N.E., and have sent for southern assistance.
The South people by this time had become Sun-worshippers, and
"Osiris" now means Sun as well as Moon.
The N.E. people are beaten, and there is an amalgamation of the
_Original_ and Southern cults. The N.E. people are reduced
to second place, but Set is retained, and _Anubis_ looks
after sepulchres, soon to be replaced by Osiris as Southern
priestcraft prevails. The priestly headquarters now are at
Annu and Abydos. At the former place we have an amalgamated
cult representing Sun and N. Star gods. At Abydos Osiris
(changed into a Sun-God) is supreme.
[Sidenote: Pyramid Times
[Mariette 4200,
Brugsch 3700.]]
Another Swarm from N.E., certainly from Babylonia this time,
and apparently by isthmus only, since no E.-W. temples are
found on Red Sea roads.
They no longer bring Anu alone. There is a Spring Equinox
Sun-God.
3700 Southern people at Barkal and Thebes in force; temple-building
on a large scale. Chnemu begins to give place to Amen-Rā.
Still more blending between _original_ and Southern peoples.
3500 Final blending of North and South cults at Thebes. Temples
founded there to Set and Min, on the lines of Annu and An.
3200 Establishment of worship of Amen-Rā at Thebes. Supremacy of
Theban priests.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE EGYPTIAN AND BABYLONIAN ECLIPTIC CONSTELLATIONS.
I have already, in Chapter XXXII., pointed out that at Annu we seemed
limited to Set as a stellar divinity; so soon as pyramid times are
reached, however, this was changed, and we found the list of the
gods increased, and the worship of the sun and of stars in the
constellations of the Bull and Scorpion went on, if it was not begun,
in Egypt, in pyramid times. These constellations were connected with
the equinoxes; and associated with the introduction of these new
worships in pyramid times was the worship of the bull Apis.
The first question which now arises is, When were any ecliptic
constellations established in Babylonia? and next, Which were they?
Jensen, in his "Kosmologie der Babylonier," tells us that there is some
very definite information relating not only to Taurus and Scorpio, but
to Capricornus and other winter constellations; and, as in Egypt so in
Babylonia, for the first references to the constellations we have to
refer to the religion and the mythology.
So far as I have been able to gather, any myth like the Egyptian myth
of Horus, involving combats between the sun and circumpolar star gods,
is entirely lacking in Babylonia, but a similar myth in relation to
some of the ecliptic constellations is among the best known. Jensen
shows that the first notions of the Babylonian constellations are to be
got by studying the sun-gods, and especially the mythic war between the
later sun-god Marduk and the monster Tiāmat.
I have already referred to Marduk; he is the Spring Sun-God, and it
has also been stated that the greatest god of ancient Babylonia, Ía of
Eridu, was connected with the constellation of Capricornus.
Marduk represented the constellation of the Bull. Here I quote
Jensen:--[177]
"It has already been suggested that the Bull is a symbol of the
Spring-Sun _Marduk_; that he was originally complete; that he at one
time extended as far as the Fish of _Ía_, _i.e._ the western Fish;
that the Fish of _Ía_, out of which the sun emerged at the end of the
year in ancient times to enter Taurus, is to represent _Ía_, the God
of the Ocean, out of which his son _Marduk_, the early sun, rises
daily; finally, that a series of constellations west of the Fish(es) is
intended to represent symbolically this same ocean. _Marduk_ is on the
one hand, as early sun of the day (and the year), the son of _Ía_, the
god of the world-water."
As to the sun-god Marduk, then, he represents the sun at the vernal
equinox, when the sunrise was heralded by the stars in the Bull.
But what, then, are the fish of _Ía_ and the other constellations
referred to? They are all revealed to us by the myth. They are the
Southern ecliptic constellations.
_Tiāmat._
Tiāmat, according to Jensen, means initially the Eastern Sea (p. 307).
This was expanded to mean the "Weltwasser" (p. 315), which may be taken
to mean, I suppose, the origin of the Greek ὠκεανὸς, and possibly
the overlying firmament of waters. These firmamental waters contain
the southerly ecliptic constellations, the winter and bad-weather
signs--the Scorpion, the Goat-fish, and the Fish among them.
It must be pointed out that these southerly constellations were
associated with the God of Eridu _in his first stage_.
_The Constellations referred to in the Myth of Marduk and Tiāmat._
We are indebted to the myth, then, for the knowledge that when it was
invented, not only the constellations Bull and Scorpion, but also the
Goat and Fishes had been established in Babylonia.
This argument is strengthened by the following considerations suggested
by Jensen:--
"We look in vain among the retinue of Tiāmat for an animal
corresponding to the constellations of the zodiac to the east of
the vernal equinox. This cannot be accidental. If, therefore, we
contended that the cosmogonic legends of the Babylonians stood in
close relationship to the phenomena of sunrise on the one hand and
the entrance of the sun into the vernal equinox on the other--that,
in fact, the creation legends in general reflect these events--there
could not be a more convincing proof of our view than the fact just
mentioned. The three monsters of Tiāmat, which _Marduk_ overcomes, are
located in the 'water-region' of the heavens, which the Spring-Sun
_Marduk_ 'overcomes' before entering the (ancient) Bull. If, as cannot
be doubted, the signs of the zodiac are to be regarded as symbols, and
especially if a monster like the goat-fish, whose form it is difficult
to recognise in the corresponding constellation, can only be regarded
as a symbol, then we may assume without hesitation that at the time
when the Scorpion, the Goat-Fish, and the Fish were located as signs of
the zodiac in the water-region of the sky, they already played their
parts as the animals of Tiāmat in the creation legends. Of course
they were not taken out of a complete story and placed in the sky, but
conceptions of a more general kind gave the first occasion. It does
not follow that all the ancient myths now known to us must have been
available, but certainly the root-stock of them, perhaps in the form of
unsystematic and unconnected single stories and concepts."
There is still further evidence for the constellation of the Scorpion.