limited to the temples—they apply also to pyramids. At Gizeh we find both temples %nd pyramids oriented east and west. At Gebel Barkal, Nuri, and Meroe, 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, Meroe, and Gebel Barkal; a west variation of 8£° has been assumed.
NURI.1
Cult. Magnetic 1 Azimuth. 1 Astronomical | Amplitude. Decl.
Pyramids 10, 11, 12 ... N. 136 E. 374 S. of E. S. 35J
Pyramids 1, 4 ... N. 137£ E. 38f S. of E. S. 36J
Pyramids 13, 14, 15 ... N. 139 E. ! 40J S. of E. S. 38
Pyramids 2, 3, 16, 17 ... ! N. 145J E. 47 S.ofE. S. 43f
Pyramids 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ... , N. 1464 E. 48 S.ofE. S. 44f
1 For plans, see Lepsius, vol. ii., p. 130.
CHAP. XXXIII.1
THE S. EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS.
357
MEROE.1
Cult Magnetic
Azimuth. Astronomical
Amplitude. Decl.
Pyramid 16 ... N. 102 E. 3$ S. of E. s. 4
Pyramid 20 ... N. 103 E. , 4$ S. of E. S. 4}
Temple near Watercourse ... N. 112 E. 13$ S. of E. S. 12$
Pyramid 15 ... N. 112 R 13$ S. of E. S. 12$
Pyramids 14, 37 N. 113 E. ' 14* S. of E. S. 13$
Pyramid 10 ... N. 116 E. 1 17$ S. of E. , S. 16$
Pyramid 39 ... N. 118 E. 19$ S. of E. |
j S. 18$
Pyramid 19 ... N. 83 E. 151 N. of E.
1 N. 14$
1
GEBEL BARKAL. 2
I
Cult i
Magnetic
Azimuth. Astronomical * Amplitude. Decl.
Temple E ... ... N. 132 E. o
331 S. of-E. S. 31$
Pyramid 18 ... ... ... , N. 132£ E. 34~ S. of E. S. 32
1
Temple L ... ... ... , N.-136J E. 38 S. of E. s. 354
Pyramids 9, 13 ... ... 1 N. 136~E. 37$ S. of E. S. 35$
Pyramid 11 ... N. 140 E. 41$ S. of E. S. 39
Pyramids 1, 2
1 N. 141 E.
, 40$ S. of E. S. 39$
Temples J and H ... ... 1 1
N. 146 E. j 471 S. of E. S. 44$
Pyramid 20 ... ... ... i N. 146 E. 471 S. of E. S. 44$
Pyramids 2, 15, 16, 17 ... |
i N. 147 E. 481 S. of E. S. 45$
i
Temple B ... ... ... i N. 152 E. 531 S. of E. S. 49$
Pyramids 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 ... N. 153 E. 1 541 S. of E. S. 50$
Pyramid 19 ... ... ... j N. 156 E. , 571 S. of E.
! S. 53
1 For plans, see Lepsius, vol. ii., pp. 133 and 134. 3 For plans, see Lepsius, vol. ii., pp. 125 and 127.
358
THE DAWK OF ASTRONOMY.
(CHAP. XXXIII.
It seems quite justifiable from the above facts to conclude that the pyramids and temples oriented S.E. and, as I hold, to a 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 Gizeh due E. and W., and marked the autumnal equinox by the heliacal rising of Antares.1 The only thing in common was noting
PLAN OF THE TEMPLES AND PYRAMIDS AT GEBEL BARKAL.
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.
1 There is a point of great interest here. It would seem from Captain Lyons’ examination of the temples at Wady Haifa, which I make out to have been oriented to a Centauri, that when the two races were amalgamated in later times, both the stars to which I have referred as heralding the equinox were personified by the same goddess, Serk-t.
^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 earned on, and that practically there were three schools of thoyght.. To nil flirpe schools sun-;worship.was common, hut, 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 Grizeh. 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 those 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.
360
[CHAP. XXXIV.
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. Snyra’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 a Ursae Majoris, Capella, Antares, Phact, and a 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 Edfft and Philse 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 Saigon (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
CB*r. XXXIV ]
* TIIE ANNU SCHOOL.
361
Era.1 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 a Ursae Majoris and y Draconis.
THE ANNU SCHOOL. THE WORSHIP OP 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, Sutekli, are identical. To this list possibly Ombo and Nubi should be added.2 It is also equally well known that Sutekh was a god of the Canaanites,3 and Bes is identified with Set in the Book of the Dead.4
It is also stated by Maspero that at Memphis5 (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.
1 Besides the book on omens wo have “The observations of Bel,” or “ Illumination of Bel” (Mul-lil), seventy-two books dealing with conjunctions of Sun and Moon, phases (?) of Venus, and appearance of comets. (Sayee, “ Hibbert Lectures/’ p. 29.) The complete materials for the study of Babylonian and Assyrian astronomy cannot be available until the catalogue of the Kouyunjik Collection, now in course of publication by the British Museum, is finished.
2 Iiawlinson, vol. i., p. 316.
3 Maspero, “ Histoire Ancienne,” p. 165.
4 Pierret, “Le Pantheon 6gypticn,” p. 48. I have before referred to a doubt on this point.
5 Maspero, op. cit., p. 357.
362
[CBAP. XXXIV.
A
Now, do we get any Babylonian connection so far as we have gone?
We learn, to begin with, from Pierret1 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 refers2 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, hyaena, 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. Tomes3 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
1 “ Le Panth6on fegyptien,” p. 4. a “ Kosmologie der Bubylonier,” p. 147. * “Proc. ZooL Soc.,” 1850, p. 160.
CHAP. XXXIV.]
WORSHIP OF SET.
363
Mr. Irving, on the modern stage, couples Mepliistopheles, the modem 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 Denderali) should be called Annu or An1 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-Ra, the builder of the third pyramid of Gizeh1 2 3 (3633 B.C., Brugsch; 4100 p.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 Bil. With this Jensen finds no star associated,8 but 6000 B.C. this pole would be not far removed from those
1 Dr. Wallis Budge informs me that An was an old name of the sun-god.
2 Rawlinson, vol. ii., p. 64.
3 “ Kosmologie der Babylonier,” p. 147.
364
[CHAP. XXXIV.
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 icay in reference to Bilf the equator with its pole at Bil.
In other words, the daily and yearly apparent movements of the heavenly bodies were clearly distinguished, while we note also
Kabal Sami, “ 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 Ra and Atnxu. Ptali appears to have been a mixed sun-star god, i.e., Capella heralding the sun-rise in the Harvest Time.
Now I learn from Prof. Sayce1 that in Babylonia Anu and Bil 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,2 Venus being replaced at Babylon by Sirius.3
To the two northern divinities temples were built; both were worshipped in one temple at Babylon,4 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,
1 Savre, “ Hibbcrt Lectures.” 1887, p. 193.
2 Sayce, p. 193.
8 Jensen, p. 149. 4 Sayce, p. 439.
CHAP. XXXIV.l
A XU IX BABYLOXIA.
365
in Egypt. The pole of the ecliptic (Anu) would revolve round •*- the pole of the equator (Bil) always above the horizon.
So that since Sutekh = Anu
and Baal = Bil,
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 Bil 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. Sayce1 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 qua 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.2 The same rectangular arrangement of temples which held in Egypt, held also in Babylonia, and this perhaps may be the reason why Blljlj 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
1 Sayce, “ Hibbert Lectures,” p. 190.
2 Sayce, p. 280. There is a bas-relief in the British Museum showing this ceremonial.
366
THE DA IO' OF ASTRONOMY.
[CHAP. XXXIV.
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 Bil, and putting on a stole in the presence of Bil must say this prayer,” etc.1 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 OP THE SPRING-SUN.
The East and West orientation, as we have seen, is chiefly remarkable at the pyramids of Grizeh and the associated temples, but it is not confined to them.
The argument in favour of those 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.
1 Sayce, p. 101.
CHAV. XXXIV.]
THE EQUIXOCTIAL SCHOOL.
367
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.
STATUE OF CHEPHREN, FOUND IN THE TEMPLE NEAR THE SPHINX.
CHAP. XXXIV.)
AN INTRUSION FROM BABYLONIA.
369
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, theii, 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 :—1
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 Glzeli.
This indicates equality in the arts, and the possession of similar tools, in Chaldsea and Egypt about the time in question. Further it is supposed that the diorite out of which both
1 See “Guide to the British Museum,” p. 71.
Y
370
THE DAWK OF ASTRONOMY.
(CHAP. XXXIV.
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 *6.1
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.
1 Sayco, Hibbert Lectures, p. 33. Flinders Petrie, Nature, Aug. 9, 1883, p. 341.
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 ax*o of earlier foundation than those to the north; and they are associated with Edfu and Philae, which are known to be of high antiquity. This is one point of difference. Another is that the almost entire absence of Sot 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 Shahren 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.1 This alone is an argument in favour of its high antiquity.
Along with the culture of Eridu went the worship of the
1 Sayce, op. ci/., p. 135.
372
[CHAP. XXXV.
god of Eridu, the primal god of. Babylonia, Ea, fa, or Oannes, symbolised as a goat-fish, and Connected in some way with the sun when in Capricomus.
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 fa” or in relation to fa.
This la 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 Bll, that is, the poles of the heavens and the equator.1
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 fa, 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 Chaldaea, the sun-god of winter and night, who rules, like Bhadamanthos, in the lower woi*ld” (Sayce, p. 245), and as lord of Hades he was made son of Mul- lil (Sayce, p. 197).
1 One gets the idea, from reading Professor Saycc’s work, that there might have been in the earliest times a north-star-worshipping race up the Galley beforo la and Sun and Moon worship were established at Eridu; and that the addition of fa to the Bll-Anu-worship to make one triad, and the addition of Bil to the la-Asari-worship to make another, were both compromises. See Sayce, pp. 326, 347, 400.
CHAP. XXXV.]
THE GOD OF ERIDU.
373
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)1 where he is recognised as the son of la 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 Eridn 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.2
1 Prof. Sayce has been good enough to inform me that he is of opinion that Marduk or Merodach was originally a local god of Babylon, and that he was identified with the son of Ea when a colony came to Babylon or founded that city, bringing with it the culture and theology of the south. Jn this way the sun-god of Babylon became confounded with the sun-god of Eridn. I should add that Assyriologists are not all agreed about the transitions to which I have referred.
3 I owe to the kindness of Sir Arnold Kemball, K.C.B., the perusal of a valuable report on the agriculture of British East Africa, prepared for him by Mr. W. W. A. Fitz-Gerald. He has permitted me to print the following abstract:—“ The whole of the eastern coast is affected in a greater or lesser degree by the S.W. and N.E. monsoons. The following notes deal only with the extent of coast-land lying opposite and to the north of Zanzibar and Pemba islands. The agricultural seasons on the coast-lands are two in number, and correspond with the advent of the N.E. and S.W. monsoons respectively. They are distinguished locally as the * greater rains/ or ‘ Maaika M’Ku; ’ the ‘ lesser jains,’ or ‘ Masika M’dogo.’ The greater rains inaugurate the most important cultivating season, commencing in March with the S.W. monsoon. Some years the sowing commences as early as the 7th, but generally speaking the average period may be given as beginning from the middle of the month, and by the first week in April all sowings of Indian corn, rice and * mfmah ’ (Millet or Sorghum vulgare), the chief and staple food-stuffs of the people, are generally finished, though sowings may continue till the end of April. The heaviest fall of rain occurs in April and May, and the rain continues with gradually diminishing force to September. Harvest takes place in July and August, and once the grain is off the field the land is immediately cleared and prepared for sowing, in anticipation of the coming of the * lesser rains ’ in October. The season of the lesser rains is chiefly the time for the cultivation of Gingelly oil seed, beans, and such other lesser food-stuffs. The season of the * lesser rains ’ is deemed more uncertain and less to be depended upon, and the rainfall is decidedly very much smaller in comparison. The * lesser rains ’ practically end in November, for though the wind continues steadily from the N.N.E., the rainfall in December, January, and February is Blight and uncertain, and it is during these three months, especially the two last, that the greatest heat prevails. The
/
O'
374
[CHAP. XXXV.
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.1 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 seedtime 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,2 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.®
influence of the monsoons is considerably less than on Zanzibar Island, and the difference of rainfall may be put down as about 20 to 30 inches.”
1 Introduction to “ Nubische Grammatik,” 1880.
3 Just in the same way that the Equinoctial Pyramid cult gave way in Egypt, dominated by the rise of the Nile at the solstice.
* I shall show subsequently that a similar change seems also to have been made at Thebes. Amen-Ra, the Summer Sun-god, was a late invention.
(.'BAP. XXXV.]
BABYLOXJAN MYTHS.
375
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.1
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 la, was finally as definite a spring equinox sun-god as Amen-Ra 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.
Ike Myths of Horus and Marduk.
In my references to the myth of Horus in Chapter XIV.
1 Jensen, pp. 195—198.
376
[CHAP. XXXV
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 sunworshipping race abolishing the cult of Set representing the northern stars.
The facts brought together in subsequent chaptex*s 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 oveiwhelming.
I have also indicated that temples built to northern stars ai*e geographically separated fi'om those built to southern ones, and that the fonner have had their axes blocked to prevent the worship.
The Horus of Edffi, who is represented as leading the victorious hosts who revenge the killing of Osii’is 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 Edfti, 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 repi’escnt the original Hor-Shesu, so-called specially because perhaps as a novelty they had added the woi*ship of the sun to the worship of the moon? and was the moon the first Osiris brought in by moon-woi*shippers with a year of 360 days?
CHAP. XXXV.I
MARDUK AND TIAMAT.
377
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-Chaldaean south-star and winter-sun cult of Eridu was ultimately changed, absorbed, and buried in the Semitic cult of the northern stars Anu and Bll and the spring sun, first Marduk and afterwards SamaS.
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 Tiamat.
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 Tiamat, 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
378
[CHAP. XXXV.
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 la, have we not, mutatis mutandis, the exact counterpart of the . Egyptian myth of Horns ? 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 Tiamat— that is apparently the origin of the Scorpion, Capricomus, 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 Tiamat, established when the sun was in Taurus at the spring equinox, enables us to understand
CHAP. XXXV.)
THE STAR OF fA.
379
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 1& lumi&re, et la balance h celles du mal et des t^n&bres; Tun est le premier des signes sup&rieurs, et 1'autre des signes inf&rieurs.
“ Les six signes sup&ieurs comprennent les six mille de Dieu, et les six signes inftSrieurs les six mille du diable. Le bonheur de l’homme dure sous les premiers signes, et son malbeur commence au septi&me, et dure sous les six signes affect^s k Ahriman, ou au chef des t&i&bres.
“ Sous les six signes du regne du bien et la lumifere, qui sont agneau, taureau, gemeaux, cancer, lion et vierge ou Ipi, nous avons marqu^ les ^tats varies de l'air et de la terre, qui sont le r&ultat de Taction du bon principe. Ainsi on lit sous Tagneau ou sous le premier mille ces mots, printemps, zephyr, verdure; sous le taureau, seve et iieur; sous les gemeaux, chaleurs et longs jours; sous le cancer, 6t6, beaux temps; sous le lion, ^pis et moissons; et sous la vierge, vendanges.
“ En passant k la balance, on trouve les fruits; la commence le rfegne du mal aussitdt que l'homme vient k cueillir les pommes. La nature quitte sa parure ; aussi nous avons ^crit ces mots, d^pouillement de la nature; sous le scorpion on lit froid; sous le sagittaire, neiges; sous le capricome, glace et brouillard, si&ge des t^nebres et de longs nuits; sous le verseau, pluies et frimas; sous les poissons, vents imp^tueux."
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 17 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.
380 [CHAI. xxxv.
Associated with la was an la-star, which Jensen concludes. may be v Argfis. This we must consider.
Jensen concludes that the Ja-star is v Argils 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 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 la star would be observed, if all of the inscriptions referred to by Jensen are to be satisfied: its place was in “aussersten Stiden” (page 153). It was “das Pendant des im Nordpol des Aequators sitzenden HimmeU-Bi’l ” (page 148); “Id’s ‘ Ort’ am Himmel liegt im Stiden” (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 la, while on the southern side there was a temple of Bil and Anu. This not only shows that la 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-Ra., page 118 ante.)
But v Argils never rose or set anywhere near the south.
CHAP, XSTXV.I THE SOUTH STARS AT ERIDU. 381
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 vexy 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 hei*e 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:—
Achemar 8000 B.C.
Phact ... ... ... ... ... 5400 B.C.
Canopus 4700 B.C.
These stars would appear very near the south point of the horizon at Eiidu at the dates stated, and describe a verv 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 la—Ea or Eridu—star, it is desirable to quote the legend concerning la or Oannes derived from Berdssos through Alexander Polyhistor.1
“ 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 Apollod6ros) 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
1 Sayce, p. 131.
382
[CHAP. XXXV.
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,l 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. Prom 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.”
It is not necessary to give the string of “other animals” enumerated by Eusebius, but one of them is important. A companion of Anodaphas and Odakon shows the true reading to have been Anadakon—that is, Anu and Dagon. This other animal, then, clearly refers to the introduction of the northern Semitic cult, and hence the suggestion is
1 The italics are mine.—J. N. L.
CHAP. XXXV.)
THE LEGEND OF ERIDU.
383
strengthened that some of the earlier “other animals” who subsequently appeared, like la (? 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
THE TEMPLE AT AMADA.
boat is turned into a “ fisli man,” and the star to which they pointed to show whence they came is made a god.
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.
384 THE DAWN-OF ASTRONOMY. [CHAP. XXXV.
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 la 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.1
la 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 ramheaded, as generally stated; he is not only the creator of mankind, but he is a potter, and he is actually represented at Philaj 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.”2
I give the following extracts from Lanzoni (p. 956):—
—xnum [Chnemu] significa s fabbricatore, modellatore.’ . . . Questo demiurgo apparisce come una delle piu antiche divinity 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. 11 grande testo geografico di Edfu parlando di Elephantina,
1 Professor Sayce also tells me that Asari was subsequently identified by the Semitic Babylonians with Merodach.
8 “Egypt’s Place,” vol. i., p. 377.
CHAP. XXXV.]
CHKEMU;
385
quale metropoli del primo Nomo dell* Alto Egitto, ne ricorda la divinita, come una personificazione dell’ Acqua dell’ inondazione.”
He is also Hormaxu, 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,1 and, unlike Amen-Ra, though like la, he has a position among the gods of the lower world.
A sun-god, with uraeus and disk, ho is closely associated with Amen-Ra, and if he were one of the earliest of the South Egyptian gods this could only be by Amen-Ra being an emanation from him; the temples in any case do not afford us traces of Amen-Ra before 3700 B.c., and Clmemu 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.
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 Clmemu were a sun-god of the Winter,brought into Egypt from without, the change to Amen-Ra is precisely what would have been certain to happen, for in Egypt the Summer Solstice, over which Amen-Ra presided, was all-important.
Anthropological Evidence.
It will be seen, then, that a general survey of Egyptian
1 Kawliiuon’s “Ancient Egypt,” vol. i., p. 328.
Z
386
THE DAWN OF ASTROXOMY.
[CHAP. XXXV.
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 mesati- cephalic; 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, Ra is father of all the gods; but
388
[CHAP. XXXVI.
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 = o Columbse, Serk-t = o Centauri, Mut = 7 Draconis, and other stars (Isis) did precisely the same; while in another connection Isis is the sister of Osiris, and therefore the mother of Homs. 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
Northern Gods and Goddesses.
GOD.
{
Ptali = Capella, April sun (1) Anubis = Northern constellations. Min.
Khem = May Sun (2).
Bast-Isis = a Ursie Majoris.
Menat-Isis Spica.
Serk-t-Isis Antares,
Nit-Isis Pleiades.
Autumn Sun Spring Sun
CHAP. XXXVI.J
THE MOOX-GODS.
389
Southern Gods and Goddesses.
Osiris = Moon-god.
Chnemu = Sun-god, autumnal equinox.
Khonsu = Canopus, autumnal equinox, warner.
West horizon
followed by Serk-t = a Ceniauri east horizon.
Amen-Ra A combined north and Te^i-Isis
south god, established Amen-t-Isis about 3700 B.C. Hathor-Isis
The establishment of Amen-Ra 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;1 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 deir eternitk. Quando tu sei in Cielo, tu apparisci come sole, et tu rinnuovi la tua forma comme Luna.” 2
1 Phact (1) | Sirius (2)
It lias also to be borne in mind that the complicated headdress, including the goat’s horns, is represented in connection with Thoth Chnemu and Osiris.3
Later he was unquestionably a sun-god, but this would be
1 Lanzoni also states that Amen-R& sometimes appears with the four heads of the goat, once special to Chnemu, q.v.
2 Lanzoni, p. 692.
* Rawlinson, vol. i., p. 371.
390
THE DAWK OF ASTRONOMY.
[CHAP. XXXVI.
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 Hor.us 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.1
“ La 363me ann^e de son regne, le dieu part avec son fils pour l'^lgypte. Voili done une date precise de l’un de ces rois qui, selon les traditions ^gyptiennes, avaient occupd le trfine de l’l^gypte avant les souverains indigenes. Cette ann^e-li, Horliut chasse Typhou de l’tigypte, et s’dtablit en roi sur tout le pay a Cela concorderait done avec ce que nous disent Mand- thon et Eusebe, que, dans la premiere dynastie des dieux, Typhon prdedda immediatement Horus. La succession se serait faite par droit de conquete,
“ Horus a avec lui des compagnons qui sont nommds partout ses suivants : les Scliesou Hor. M. de Roug^ a ddjii fait remarquer que, dans plusieurs inscriptions, ces homines sont eonsiderds com me les habitants primitifs de l’^gypte, les contemporains des dynasties divines. Ce sont ces Mesennou dont il a dlj& iik question dans la s&ie prdeddente. Le rdle qu’ils jouent dans ce rccit montre, plus clairement encore, que l’dpoque dont il s’agit est la fin des temps mythologiques auxquels M6na devait succdder. C’est une
1 Naville, “Mythc d’Horas,” p. 8.
CHAP. XXXVI.]
THE MYTH OF HQEUS.
391
tradition relative aux £v4nements qui ne doivent avoir precede que de pen les temps historiques.
“Horhut monte dans la barque de son pere, qui le suit pendant toute l’expedition, et lui donne 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 & rappeler ses exploits, et qui seront plus particu 1 i£rement vou^s a son culte. C’est a Edfou qu’ont lieu les premiers combats, puis dans le 16me nome de la Haute-^gypte. Le nome de Mert, celui du Fayoum et du lac Moeris, est le theatre de plusieurs Episodes de la lutte. CPest dans la ville de Sutenchenen, appel^e ici Nanrutef, un sanctuaire important d’Osiris, que s’&ablissent les Schesou Hor. Entin, lorsque Set a etfc chass^ du nome de Chent-ab, le 14me de la Basse-Egypte, le pays est d^livr^, et la royaut^ est assume k Horhut. Son p&re, qui, & chaque nouvelle victoire, lui a d6cern^ quelque honneur special, lui accorde d’etre represent^ sous la
THE WINGED SOLAR DISK.
forme du disque ail^, ou du scarab^e, sur tous les temples de la Haute et de la Basse-jfigypte. Horus devient le seigneur des deux regions, s’assied dans un sanctuaire ou il est ador£ com me Horchuti, avec qui il finit par se confondre.
“Telle est cette seconde legende, bien mieux caract6ris«$e que la premiere, car elle est rattach^e k des localities connues et k une ^poque d^termin^e. Elle me semble mime assez claire pour qu’on puisse y voir une tradition, qui aurait a sa base un fait historique. Set est un dieu bien connu dans l’histoire d’Egypte; c’est le dieu des ennemis, et particuli&rement des populations simitiques, qui conquirent une fois le pays et le rnirent souvent en danger. Si nous considerons qu’il est chassi par Horus, le dieu qui lui a succide dans la royauti, et par les habitants primitifs du pays k un moment donni des annales divines, n’est-il pas naturel d’expliquer ce mythe par une guerre entre les ftgyptiens venus de Nubie, et les Semites qui auraient 6t6 chassis du pays; soit que cette guerre soit plus ancienne que les temps historiques, soit que, venue plus tard, elle ait passi dans le domaine de 1’histoire ligendaire 1 Les textes relatifs aux dynasties divines sont encore trop rares pour que nous puissions pousser trfes-loin ces recherches. Le temple d’Edfou nous fournira peut-etre un jour de nouvelles indications sur ces dpoques pr^historiques, et sur l’origine si mysterieuse de la civilisation de lTfegypte.”
In another passage Naville remarks:
392
[CHAP. XXXVI.
“ Typhon n’est pas simplement le dieu du mal, l’adversaire personnel d’Osiris, c’est un sonverain qui occupe avec ses allies la plus grande partie de l’Egypte depuis Edfou jusqn’4 l’Orient du Delta.” 1
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 a lui que sont consacrds^ plusieurs des temples pharaoniques qui existent le long du Nil entre Ouadi-Halfa et Philse.” 2
But this is not all. The sequence of the Divine Dynasties is as follows, according to Maspero:—*
Atmu.
R&
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 Ra head the list. Besides, the worship of Set did not kill the worship of the Sun, for the power of Ra 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 Sayce4 tells us—
1 “ Mythe d’Horus,” p. 7. 2 “ Mythe d’Horus,” p. 7.
8 “Hist. Anc.,” p. 33. 4 “ Hibbert Lectures.” p. 155.
CHAP. XXXVI.]
THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX.
393
“ According to the official religion of Chaldsea, the San-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.”1
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 ceiiain that the Calendar which he leads was of Southern origin, because New Year’s Day at the Summer Solstice was heralded first by Pliact 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 a Centauri, and it becomes a question whether the original moon-calendar of Tho
