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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The second series, dealing with γ Draconis, is naturally much fuller.

γ Draconis.

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.

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:—

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.

Spica.

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.

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.