EGYPTIAN ZOUIACS. 95 



horned, and round foliated bases on square plinths. On the ceiling 

 of this portico is the large Zodiac, partly carved and partly 

 painted in natural colors, on a blue ground studded with yellow 

 stars. The general design of the Zodiac is divided in two, and 

 represents two female figures, which bend over the divisions, 

 typical of Isis, or the year ; with a winged globe placed against 

 each, allusive to the sun entering his course. Each band of the 

 Zodiac is divided into two, by a broad line covered with smaller 

 hieroglyphics. On the upper division of the Zodiac, which is the 

 broadest, are represented six of the Zodiacal signs ; and under 

 them, in the second division of Lhe top band, are 19 boats, each 

 carrying a figure significative of some astronomical appearance ; 

 accompanied by an Eg3T>tian inscription in a square. The con- 

 stellations, and other heavenly bodies, were the Divinities of 

 Egypt, and it was supposed that they performed their revolutions 

 in boats. The other great band contains the six remaining signs 

 of the Zodiac ; and on its lower division are 19 other boats, as 

 before. The Rev. Samuel Henley, in his very instructive and 

 highly erudite remarks on this Zodiac, published in the Monthly 

 and Philosophical Magazines, says, that these boats signify the 

 nineteen years of the Metonic, or Lunar Cycle, which contains 

 6940 days ; after which, the New and Full Moons, and other 

 Aspects, are supposed to return to the same day of the Julian year. 

 The smaller Zodiac, or rather Planisphere, is carved on the ceiling 

 of a separate quadrangular apartment on the east side of the Temple. 

 It is of a circular form, and is supported by four human figures, 

 standing, and eight kneeling,who have hawks heads. In both these 

 Zodiacs the equinoctial points are in the constellation Leo, and it 

 was by some inferred that they were constructed at the time when 

 the sun entered this constellation at the equinox, or more than 9,700 

 years ago ; about 4,000 years before the Mosaic record. These 

 Zodiacs were brought away, and exhibited in the Louvre at Paris ; 

 and for a long time were the occasion of much discussion. All 

 the speculations of infidel philosophers were, however, scattered 

 to the winds by the discoveries of Champollion ; and the disserta- 

 tions of Visconti and Henley have proved, in opposition to the 

 infidel arguments of Ripaud, Petau and Archer, that they are of 



