May 



II, 



1893] 



NATURE 



43 



I 



maybe taken as i' 42', but that of the star, 3°. Combining 

 these values with the latitude, viz., 37° 38', and using the 

 formula 



sin 3 = cos zen. dist. x cos colat + sin zen. dist. x sin colat x 

 sin ampl., 



we obtain for the star a declination of + 7° 40', and for that 

 of the Sun +6° 52' 22". This latter, with the ecliptic obliquity 

 of about 800 years B.C., determines the Sun's right ascension 

 to have been ih. 3m. 15s. 



The next step is to inquire if there be any bright star or star 

 group which, at a date consistent with archaeological possibility, 

 would have had a declination near to the above-named place, 

 and would also have been heliacal. 



Such a star would have required about 6h. 8m. to pass from 

 3° altitude to the meridian, and it would have required to have 

 been about ijh. in advance of the Sun to allow it to be seen. 

 The approximate R.A. of such star would therefore be about 

 23h. 40m., and its declination, as already stated, must be about 

 7° 40' N. 



For trials I have used a stereographic projection of the 

 sphere taken on the pole of the ecliptic, but showing also R.A. 

 hours and parallels of declination. Any place on this 

 projection may be chosen and marked on a superimposed sheet 

 of tracing paper, and then if the tracing paper is turned round 

 upon the pole of the ecliptic as a centre, so that the straight 

 line drawn upon it, which in the first instance joined the two 

 poles marked on the projection is carried round to an angle 

 equal to the amount of precessional movement under consider- 

 ation, if there be a suitable star marked on the projection the 

 point selected for trial will pass over it or near it, and after the 

 star has been thus roughly pointed out the more exact calcula- 

 tions may be proceeded with. By this process in the case 

 bJore us the tracing-paper mark coincided almost exactly with 

 the place of a Arietis, and for this star the particulars were 

 carefully computed which have been given in the list of 

 elements. 



It should be noticed that there are in every case of intra- 

 solstitial temples four possible solutions of this step. The 

 Sun's amplitude may be due either to the vernal or the 

 autumnal place, and the star might have 'oeen heliacal either at 

 its rising or setting. In every instance all these four alterna- 

 tives have been tried by the preliminary search method, and in 

 every case in temples of old foundation an heliacal star has 

 resulted from one or other of the trials, but never more than 

 «ne. 



The star which has been found as above for the Temple of 

 Jupiter is no other than the brightest star of the first sign of 

 the Zodiac, and therefore peculiarly suited to that god. The 

 same star is connected with the early temple of Jupiter 

 Olympius at Athens. 



In inlra-solstitial temples, by the nature of the case, the 

 stars are almost entirely confined to the Zodiacal constellations, 

 and consequently suitable stars are very much limited in 

 number. 



Another very great limitation arises from the consideration 

 that, to have been of any .^service as a time warner, the star 

 must have been heliacal, and when these two limitations are 

 taken into account it becomes improbable to the greatest 

 degree that there should always have been a suitable star unless 

 it had been so arranged by the builders of the temple. 



In about two-thirds of the cases which I have investigated the 

 dates deduced from the orientations are clearly earlier than the 

 architectural remains now visible above the ground. This is ex- 

 plained by the temples having been rebuilt upon old foundations, 

 as may be seen in several cases which have been excavated, of 

 which the archaic Templeof Minerva on the Acropolis of Athens 

 and the Temple of Jupiter Olympius on a lower site are instances. 

 There are temples also of a middle epoch, such as the examples 

 at Corinth, -ligina, and the later temples at Argosandat Olympia 

 <the Metroum at the last named), of which the orientation dates 

 are quite consistent with what may be gathered from other 

 sources. 



Besides the list of intra-solstitial temples already given I have 

 particulars of five for which I have been unable to find an 

 heliacal star. They are all known to be of recent foundatiDn, 

 when other methods of measuring time had been discovered. 

 The solar axial coincidences were no doubt in all these cases 

 onnected with the great festivals of these temples. It was 

 jlearly the case in two of them. 



NO. 1228, VOL. 48] 



At the Theseum at Athens the date was either October 10 or 

 March 2. The Theses festival is reckoned to have been on 

 October 8 or 9. For the later Erechtheum the day would have 

 been April 8 or September 3. The great festival of this temple 

 is put down for September 3. 



Leaving the solar temples, we find that the star which was 

 observed at the great Temple of Ceres must have been Sirius, 

 not used, however, heliacally — although this temple is not extra 

 solstitial — but for its own refulgence at midnight. The date so 

 determined is quite consistent with the probable time of the 

 foundation of the Eleusinian Mysteries and the time of year when 

 at its rising it would have crossed the axis at midnight agrees 

 exactly with that of the celebration of the Great Mysteries. 



It is reasonable to suppose that when, as in the case of Sirius 

 at Eleusis, brilliant stars were observed at night, the effect was 

 enhanced by the priests by means of polished surfaces. 



Herodotus, speaking of a temple at Tyre (B. II, 44), says: — 



(TfiapaySou \i9ov, Aa/iwoyros ras vvktus fifjaSos." 



(Two shafts, one of pure gold, the other of emerald, which 

 shone remarkably at night.) 



Of a list of seven extra-solstitial temples which are named, 

 five are more particularly noticed, viz. : — 



A temple at Mycenae and one near Thebes, which are built 

 nearly north and south, but which probably, as was the case at 

 Bassse, had eastern doorways. The star, a Arietis, which suits 

 the first, seems to point out the dedication of this temple to 

 Jupiter. The other is very remarkable, and connects the Boeotian 

 Thebes with the great Egyptian city ; the star was 7 Draconis. 

 Thebes was called the City of the Dragon, and tradition records 

 that Cadmus introduced both Phoenician and Egyptian worship. 

 Three of the temples lay more nearly at an angle bisecting the 

 cardinal points ; these are Diana Propylaea at Eleusis, a small 

 temple (not yet named) lately discovered at Athens, and the 

 Temple of Venus at Ancona, recovered by means of the walls of 

 a church built upon its traditional site. In these temples the 

 star observed at the first seems to have been Capella, the time of 

 the year when it shone axially at midnight agreeing with that of 

 the celebration of the Little Mysteries, and in the other two the 

 star was Arcturus. 



EXPLORATIONS IN THE KARAKORAM. 



MR. W. M. CONW.Wgaveanaccountof his recent exploring 

 expedition in the Karakoram mountains at the last meeting 

 of the Royal Geographical Society. The paper was illustrated 

 by lantern slides, and a series of paintings by Mr. McCormick, 

 who accompanied theexpedition, was alsoexhibited. Mr. Conway 

 said : — We left Srinagar on April 13, 1892, and came to Gilgit. 

 Arrived at Gilgit we found the condition of the mountains, from 

 a climber's point of view, too backward for our purposes. We 

 therefore spent a month in mapping and exploring the fine Bag- 

 rot Valley, which slopes southwards from Rakipushi and its 

 immediate neighbours along the main ridge. We hoped to be 

 able to force a passage over this ridge into Nagyr ; but the per- 

 sistent bad weather baulked our efforts when they were on the 

 point of succeeding. When the traveller has emerged from the 

 inhospitable defiles which sunder the valley of Hunza Nagyr 

 from Gilgit, and has climbed the vast ancient moraines 

 near Tashot, which form the final rampart of the fertile basin 

 (fertile, of course, only by reason of artificial irrigation of admir- 

 able complexity and completeness), he stands surrounded by an 

 astonishing view. The bottom of the valley is, as usual, deeply 

 filled by dibris, whose surface is covered by terraced fields, faced 

 with Cyclopean masonry, and rich with growing crops and 

 countless fruit trees. The mountains fling themselves aloft 

 on either hand, with astounding precipitancy, as it were into 

 the uttermost heights of heaven ; so steeply, in fact, that a spring 

 avalanche falling from the summit of Rakipushi on the south 

 must almost reach the bottom of the valley. Rakipushi is 

 25,500 feet high; the Hunza peak is about 24,000 feet high. 

 Their summits are separated by a distance of 19 miles. Both 

 mountains are visible from base to summit at one and the same 

 time from the level floor of the valley between them, which is 

 not more than 7000 feet above the sea. No mountain 

 view that I saw in the Karakorams surpasses this for grim wonder 

 of colossal scale, combined with savage grandeur of form and 

 contrast of smiling foreground. 



Having been beaten back on June 24 from an attempt to 



