396 



NATURE 



[February 25, 1892 



a period not incompatible with reasonable archaeology 

 rose or set very near the line of the sun's course at some 

 period of the year; and a further restriction is this, that 

 the rising or setting must be just so far in advance of 

 sunrise as to enable the star to be seen from the adytum 

 of the temple, and, at the same time, not preceding it by 

 any longer interval than is necessary. 



If, in addition to this, we find, as is frequently the case 

 in the Egyptian temples, and is not without parallel in 

 Greece, that as the star to whose point of rising or setting 

 the axis of a temple was first aimed worked away from its 

 then position by precession, either the doorway of the 

 temple was altered, or a new temple founded alongside, so 

 as to retain the desired observation ; and in every case of 

 such new temple being so built it is found to have followed 

 the same cult as the original ; if, in addition to this, in 

 different provinces temples are found of which the cult is 

 known, and which are so planned as to be able to use the 

 same star — with such decided differences of orientation, 

 however, as were prescribed by latitude and the local 

 ■circumstances of the surrounding heights — we obtain a 

 further strong corroboration, and one that will in many 

 cases be sufftcient to determine the cult, where this has 

 not been otherwise pointed out. 



One further step requires to be taken to occupy the 

 ground with perfect confidence — viz. to inquire what 

 analogy is there between the days of the month when 

 the sun would rise ushered in, as it may be said, by the 

 temple's peculiar star, and the days of the festivals as 

 derived from historical sources. In this comparison we 

 must not expect a coincidence on every point. 



The date of the temple foundation in many cases is 

 pre-Homeric, whilst the basis of the historical account 

 ■of the date of the feast is probably post-Persic. There 

 may have been an interval of nearly looo years between 

 the two, so that there is room for changes. Again, owing 

 to their double system of reckoning months and years, 

 considerable variation in the dates given by Mommsen, 

 whose authority [ mainly follow, is quite possible ; and 

 besides this, in some of the cases given below, the orienta- 

 tion day, if I may so call it, may be in fault one or 

 possibly two days for want of the exact particulars of the 

 site to which I have made allusion. 



Firstly, speaking of Attic feasts, the great temple at 

 Eleusis is an example very much to the point. The star 

 which seems to have determined the orientation is 

 Sirius, shining as it rose at midnight along the axis of 

 the temple on September 14. The Eleusinian mysteries 

 are stated to have commenced on the i6th of that month. 

 In this case the sun was not looked for ; the weird light 

 of the star reflected from some combination of jewels was 

 more likely to have been suited to the mysteries. It is 

 perhaps less likely that this ceremony would have been 

 changed than in most of the other cases. 



The axis of the older Erechtheum^ 



had the central star of the fine I The lesser Panathenaia, 

 constellation Aquarius setting j dated August 13-14. 

 heliacally on August 9. j 



Warning of the sunrise at Su- 1 a i- .. ^ m- , ■.t , 



nium was given by the setting l^ ^^^^\ *° ^'"T^t u'^ ^''^' 

 of the Pleiades on October 20 J ^^° '^ ^""^^^ ^ctoher 30. 



The star o Arietis rose heliacally "\ t,, ^ ^ „, . . 

 to the older Olympieium at I ^''^ l^^^\ ^'^^Plf '« '^.^■ 

 Athens, April 2, more than f ^'"'f^fj^ ^P"^ ^9 m 

 1000 years B.C. J '^ter times. 



The temple of Diana BrauroniaN™, ^ ..,, -k, . ■ , 



on the Acropolisof Athensagreed TheL ttleMystenes were cele- 

 with the ri^ng of Aquariut (the I bmted February 2 i.-N.B. 

 central star C Aquarii in par- .' A temple of Diana was m 



ticular) on February 21 at the 

 presumed date of its foundation. ' 



close connection with the 

 great temple at Eleusis. 



In the earliest times, as already explained, the stars 

 were used as the only available clocks, but probably by 

 the end of the sixth century, whether by the discovery of 

 NO. I 165, VOL. 45] 



the behaviour of the stars or by the invention of the 

 water-clock (which is recorded to have been used to some 

 extent in the fifth century), or other approximate means of 

 measurilig time, the dependence on the stars alone had 

 ceased ; and the later temples, in Greece at any rate, 

 appear to have been built without any reference to these. 



At Athens this applies to the existing or new Erech- 

 theum, the Theseum and the temple of N ike Apteros, which 

 temples do not seem to have been built parallel to any old 

 foundations. The old foundations under the Erechtheum 

 have a very different angle. The sunrise, however, was 

 considered in these just as much as before, for owing to 

 the artistic instinct of the Greeks, they seem invariably 

 to have secured for their principal festivals the fine effect 

 of the first sunbeam on the statue ; but as all the temples, 

 whether old or new, admitted of two axial coincidences 

 with the sunrise — one which might have a clock star (as 

 it may be called) to announce the dawn ; the other, 

 except by rare accident, having none, the desired effect 

 would have been attained on both occasions when the 

 sun had the same declination. 



It willbe obvious that if the axis of a temple in any latitude 

 had been directed due east (the horizon also being level), 

 the rising sun would coincide with it at both the spring 

 and autumn equinoxes. Similarly every other amplitude 

 would have two solar coincidences (provided that is, in 

 accordance with what has just been stated, the axis fell 

 within the solstitial limits). When it had been found 

 that the precessional movement had taken away the star 

 from the direction of the axis, there would have been no 

 reason for preferring one of these solar coincidences to 

 the other, and the feast could have been shifted to a 

 different date if it had been thought more convenient. 

 It would appear that something of this sort may have 

 taken place at Athens, for we find on the Acropolis the 

 Archaic temple, which seems to have been intended 

 originally for a vernal festival, offering its axis to the 

 autumnal sunrise on the very day of the great Pan- 

 athenaia in August. 



The Chryselephantine statue of the Parthenon, which 

 temple followed on the same lines as the earlier Heca- 

 tompedon (originally founded to follow the rising of the 

 Pleiades after that constellation had deserted the Archaic 

 temple alongside), was lighted up by the sunrise on the 

 feast to the same goddess in August, the Synsecia, 

 instead of some spring festival, for which both these 

 temples seem at first to have been founded. 



The temple at Sunium, already quoted for its October 

 star-heralded festival to Minerva, was oriented also 

 axially to the sun on February 21, the feast of the 

 lesser mysteries. 



Of temples of later foundation we have the following 

 for which no suitable stars can be found : — 



The Erechtheum, its sun axis days are March 2 and 

 September 4, the latter being the date of the Niceteria, 

 the special festival of that temple, supposed to record 

 the celebrated contest between Minerva and Neptune, 

 considered to have been on September 3. Another 

 instance is the Theseum. 



The Thesea are put down for October 8-9. The sun- 

 rise theory points out either March 7 or October 7. 

 Does not this fact restore the disputed title of Theseus to 

 this temple ? 



There cannot be so much known respecting the feasts 

 in the other provinces. 



The Olympic games were held, according to most 

 authorities, soon after midsummer, but by others in the 

 autumn. I quote on Nissen's authority the following : — 



420 B.C., Sept. 14. 

 416 B.C., Aug. 31. 



412 B.C., Sept. 12. 

 408 B.C., Sept. 2. 



The heliacal rising of the star Spica (a Virginis) seems 

 to belong to the Heraeum, and indicates September 15. 

 The Isthmian games took place either in May or 



