DENDERAH. 



637 



ture of the vestibule, to the smallest hieroglyphic, ap- 

 pears to have come from fairy lantfc Neither Greece 

 nor Rome, nor the rest of Europe, has produced any- 

 thing similar. So universal was this impression, that 

 the meanest soldiers of the army paused to examine 

 these sacred relics, and declared with one voice, that 

 this sight alone was enough to indemnify them for 

 the fatigues of the campaign. The monuments of 

 Thebes, with which they afterwards became ac- 

 quainted, could not efface this first impression ; and 

 the magnificent temple of Isis still appeared to them 

 the most perfect monument of Egyptian art. Of the 

 ancient Tentyrah, which may have existed in the 

 times of Strabo and Theodosius, a Typhosum, similar 

 to that of Edfuh, but larger, is yet standing. It is 

 west of the northern gate, so buried under rubbish 

 that the different sides are scarcely to be distinguished. 

 But the admiration of the French was chiefly excited 

 by the great temple, the whole of which is nearly in 

 the shape of a T. The view is obstructed by ruins 

 only on the eastern side. On account of the figures 

 of Isis, of every siae, which it contains, it is thought 

 to have been an Isce.um. Without the aid of draw- 

 ings, any description of its vestibules, halls, and cells, 

 which are all covered with hieroglyphics, would be 

 unintelligible. On the ceiling of the portico of this 

 Isceum, astronomical figures and emblems were found 

 nailed on the soffits: on_the two extreme soffits were 

 the twelve signs of the zodiac. 



This representation was repeated on the ceiling of 

 an apartment in the upper story, on the left side of 

 the vestibule. Like the others, this room was 

 covered with hieroglyphics, and the planisphere, 

 on the left side as you enter, occupied only half 

 of the ceiling. It was first observed by general 

 Desaix, who directed the attention of his compa- 

 nions to it. This is the planisphere of which so much 

 has been written. Behind this large building, to- 

 wards the south, is another temple, which was, per- 

 haps, dedicated to Isis and Horns. Its exterior reminds 

 us less forcibly than the Isceum, how many genera- 

 tions must have existed, before a nation could flourish 

 possessed of sufficient courage, knowledge, and ele- 

 vation of mind, for the invention of such works ; and 

 how many centuries must have elapsed, before all 

 this could have been forgotten, and men have sunk 

 back to the rudeness of the present Arab inhabitants 

 of these ruins. But the figures on the planispheres 

 particularly attracted the attention of the learned 

 Europeans, on account of their supposed connexion 

 with the precession of the equinoxes. (See Preces- 

 sion.) In both, it was observed that the lion was re- 

 presented as the first sign. This order it was sup- 

 posed must have been adopted by design ; for in the 

 larger planisphere, on the ceiling of the portico, the 

 signs are represented on two stripes, one of which 

 runs in a direction toward the interior of the temple, 

 the other toward the exterior; on the smaller (that 

 of the upper apartment, now in Paris), the signs are 

 represented in a spiral line, in the order in which we 

 now place them : Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagitta- 

 rius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, 

 Gemini, Cancer. Leo appeared, consequently, to be 

 placed, intentionally, after the point of intersection 

 of the ecliptic and equator. On the situation of those 

 points of intersection, however, depends the place of 

 the solstice, which must be half way between them. 

 In the planisphere f Denderah, it is drawn in Can- 

 cer. If this is the winter solstice, as some suppose, 

 the vernal equinox was then in Libra. At present, 

 however, it is in Pisces, and consequently 7 signs, or 

 210, farther back. As it is known that 2152 years 

 of uniform motion are necessary for the recession of 

 one sign, it follows that, to recede from Libra to 

 Pisces, 7 times 2152, or about 15,000 years are ne- 



cessary. This would be, accordingly, the minimum 

 of the age of this zodiac, if we suppose that it is 

 founded on real astronomical observations, and is 

 not to be considered a mere astronomical problem. 

 See Rhode, J'ersuch ueber das Alter des Tfiierkreises 

 und den Vrsprung der Sternbilder , Berlin, 1809, 4to. 



Other astronomers, in particular Littrow (Wiener 

 Zeitsc/irift, 1822, No. 53, 54), and, yet earlier, the 

 authors of the great description of Egypt, thought 

 the solstice on the zodiac of Tentyra to be the sum- 

 mer solstice. The vernal equinox would then fall 

 between Taurus and Aries, consequently 45 farther 

 forward than at present. From this it would fol- 

 low, that the zodiac would be. as old as 45 times 

 7 If years, or 3228 years. This last supposition 

 would be justified if the constellation which is the 

 first in the zodiac were that which the sun must enter 

 first after the heliacal rise of Sirius. There are many 

 reasons which induce us to believe this. The ap- 

 pearance of Sirius followed a few days after the sum- 

 mer solstice : it was a sign of the rising of the Nile, 

 and of the beginning of the agricultural year in Egypt. 

 This reference to the beginning of the agricultural 

 year adds great force to this supposition. The accom- 

 panying hieroglyphics, as the child on the lotus flower 

 near Aries, the rising sun, the point of the vernal 

 equinox, are additional arguments. 



Considerations drawn from astronomy and the pro- 

 gress of the arts, induced E. G. Visconti to believe 

 this planisphere . and the whole temple, which un- 

 doubtedly were executed at the same time, to be of 

 a tar more recent origin. He assigned this building 

 to the time when the uncertain Thoth, the commence- 

 ment of the uncertain Egyptian year, coincided with 

 the sign of Leo, which was the case from the year 

 12 to the year 132 of our era. (See Notice sommaire 

 des deux Zodiaques de Tentyra, in the 2d volume of 

 Larcher's Herodote, page 567 et seq.) To this date, 

 belonging to the first years of the Roman dominion, 

 the authors of the great description of Egypt have 

 opposed strong reasons. In case this hypothesis 

 should not be approved, Visconti had another ready. 

 Proceeding on the theory of De la Nauze, who took 

 an Egyptian Normal year as the basis of his calcula- 

 tion, he assigned these monuments to the period of 

 the Ptolemies. A single Greek inscription, in an 

 obscure place in the Iseeum, was not a very conclusive 

 argument in favour of this hypothesis, which, besides, 

 is exposed to strong objections, if we compare the 

 architecture of these buildings with other monuments 

 of that period. They are executed in so pure an 

 Egyptian style, that they exclude every idea of fo- 

 reign influence hostile to the religion of the country. 

 No one, therefore, can think of ascribing them to 

 the old enemies of the Egyptian worship, the Per- 

 sians, those destroyers of temples. There is, then 

 no alternative but to refer their origin to a period 

 when the country was under its native kings. 



Putting out of view the astronomical representations, 

 the authors of the description of Egypt are inclined 

 to assign the building of the temple, whose execution 

 harmonizes so accurately with the original plan as to 

 be evidently the creation of the same time, to that 

 period when the Egyptian art appears to have 

 reached its highest perfection, the period between 

 Necho and Amasis, when magnificent edifices were 

 erected in the Delta, and Memphis was in its splen- 

 dour. The dispute concerning the antiquity of this 

 monument is not yet finished, and was by no means 

 brought nearer to a decision by mutilating the TVhole, 

 and carrying a piece of it to Europe. Preconceived 

 opinions have affected the discussion of this subject. 

 Thus an essay of Dupuy on this zodiac was suppress- 

 ed by the police of Paris, as tending to promote 

 infidelity (August, 1822). 



