May 1 8, 1893J 



NA TURB 



55 



ON THE EARLY TEMPLE AND PYRAMID 

 BUILDERS. 



I HAVE in previous articles discussed the orientation of 

 many temples in various parts of Egypt. It will 

 have been seen that it has been possible to divide them 

 into solar and stellar temples, and that in the case of the 

 former both solstices and equinoxes have been in ques- 

 tion. 



I have also referred to the very considerable literature 

 which already exists as to the pyramids, and shown how 

 the most carefully constructed among them are invariably 

 oriented truly to the four cardinal points, and further that 

 it is possible that some parts of their structures might 

 have served some astronomical purpose, since astrono- 

 mical methods must certainly have been employed in 

 their construction. 



It has also been suggested that the fundamental differ- 

 ence between solstitial and equinoctial worships indicated 

 by the solstitial temples and the pyramids required nothing 

 less than a difference of race to explain it. I propose 

 now to inquire if there be any considerations which can be 

 utilised to continue the discussion of the question thus 

 raised on purely astronomical grounds. It is obvious 

 that if sufficient tradition exists to permit us to associate 

 the various structures which have been studied astrono- 

 mically with definite periods of Egyptian history, a study 

 of the larger outlines of that history will enable us to 

 determine whether or not the critical changes in dynasties 

 and rulers were or were not associated with critical 

 changes in astronomical ideas as revealed by changes in 

 temple-worship. If there be no connection the changes 

 may have been due to a change of idea only, and the 

 suggestion of a distinction of race falls to the ground. 



In a region of inquiry where the facts are so few and 

 difficult to recognise among a mass of myths and tradi- 

 tions, to say nothing of contradictory assertions by diflFer- 

 ent authors ; the more closely we adhere to a rigidly 

 scientific method of inquiry the better. I propose to 

 show, therefore, that there is one working hypothesis 

 which seems to include a great many of the facts, and I 

 hope to give the hypothesis and the facts in such a way 

 that if there be anything inaccurately or incompletely 

 stated it will be easy at once to change the front of the 

 inquiry and proceed along the new line indicated. 



I may begin by remarking that it is fundamental for 

 the hypothesis, that the temples of On or Heliopolis, 

 as stated by Maspero and other high authorities, existed 

 before the times of Mini (Menes) and the pyramid 

 builders, whatever may have been the date of the original 

 foundation of Thebes. 



Before Mini, according to Maspero, " On et les villes 

 du Nord avaient eu la part principale dans le developpe- 

 ment de la civilisation Egyptienne. Les prieres et la 

 hymnes, qui form^rent plus tard le noyau des livres 

 sacrds, avaient dtd ridigds \ On." ' 



The working hypothesis is as follows : — ■ 



1. The first civilisation as yet glimpsed in Egypt, repre- 

 sented by On or Heliopolis, was a civilisation with a 

 solstitial solar worship associated with the rise of the Nile. 

 A northern star was also worshipped. 



2. Memphis (possibly also Sais, Bubastis, Tanis, and 

 other cities with east and west walls) and the pyramids 

 were built by an invading race from a land where the 

 worship was equinoctial. A star rising in the east was 

 worshipped at the equinox. 



3. The blank in Egyptian history between the sixth 

 and eleventh dynasties was associated with conflicts be- 

 tween these races, which were ended by the victory of the 

 representatives of the old worship of On. After them 

 pyramid building ceased and solstitial worship was re- 

 suscitated ; Memphis takes second place, and Thebes, a 

 southern On, so far as solstitial solar worship is concerned, 

 comes upon the scene as the seat of the twelfth 

 dynasty. 



*' Histoire anciennc," p. 4Z« 



NO 1229, VOL. 48] 



4. The subsequent historical events were largely due 

 to conflicts with intruding races. The intruders estab- 

 lished themselves in cities with east and west walls, and 

 were on each occasion driven out by solstitial solar 

 worshippers who founded dynasties (eighteenth and 

 twenty-fifth) at Thebes. 



1—071. 



I have taken another occasion of remarking how the 

 various worships at Thebes were reflected in the 

 orientation of the temenos walls. The so-called '' sym- 

 metrophobia " of the Egyptians was full of meaning, which 

 in this case, at all events, is no longer hidden. If we note 

 this reflection, as we can over and over again, where both 

 temples and walls still stand, it is fair to assume that 

 where the walls alone remain the temples which they once 

 enclosed, long since destroyed, had the same relation. 

 These considerations, alas, have to be appealed to in the 

 case of Heliopolis, to say so far nothing of Abydos and 

 Memphis. 



At Heliopolis the so-called " symmetrophobia" as indi- 

 cated by the trend of the mounds given in Lepsius's plan, 

 is so strong that in spite of the fact that only one obelisk of 

 one temple remains, it is easy to show that both solstitial 

 solar worship and star worship were carried on, if walls 

 had the same relation to the included temples at On as- 

 they had at Thebes. 



The solar temple at On has entirely disappeared. As 

 may be gathered from the remains of the mounds, it lay in 

 the line of the solstices. As the gods included Ra, Atmu, 

 and Osiris, probably like the temple of Amen Ra at 

 Thebes there were two temples back to back. At Thebes 

 the temples were directed north-west — south-east, at On 

 south-west — north-east. 



My observations of the orientation of the obelisk show 

 that the temple of which it formed part may have 

 possibly been the first of the series which includes 

 the temple of Mut at Thebes, and other temples, there 

 and at Abydos ; that is the worship of Set was in 

 question, to speak generically. Now, according to- 

 Maspero, ' Sit or Set formed one of the divine 

 dynasties, being associated with the sun and air gods at 

 On, i.e. with Ra, Atmu, Osiris, Horus, and Shoii. 



At Abydos, as also can be determined by the orientation 

 of the walls, one of the oldest temples was probably a sol- 

 stitial one. The stellar temples sacred to Set were built 

 much later than the solar temple. 



Like On, Abydos was a sacred city.- 



"C'est comme ville sainte qu'elle dtaituniversellement 

 connue. Ses sanctuaires etaient cdliibres, son dieu Osiris, 

 vdndtd, ses fetes suivies par toute I'Egypte ; les gens 

 riches des autres nomes tenaient h. honneur de se faire 

 dresser une sttle dans son temple."^ 



If it be found that the references to "ancestors," and 

 "divine ancestors," occur after the eleventh dynasty, the 

 race represented by On may be referred to (see the 

 articles on the Egyptian year), and it may be that so 

 often referred to as the Hor schesu. 



Only one star temple, as I have said, is still represented 

 at On ; those at Abydos are known to be late. The term, 

 then, of Sun-worshippers was highly distinctive, and 

 there is reason to believe that the stellar observations were 

 connected with the solar worship. 



2. — (a) The East and West Walls and Pyramid 

 Builders. 



On the hypothesis these came from a country where the 

 worship was equinoctial. "* — >^ 



We are justified from what is known regarding the rise 

 of the Nile as dominating and defining the commence- 

 ment of the Egyptian year that other ancient peoples 

 placed under like conditions would act in the same way. 



Now what the Nile was to Egypt the valleys of the 



' op. cit. p. 33. 

 - Maspero. op. cii., [). 21. 



3 It is important to inquire ■ if this look place after the advent of the 

 eleventh dynasty. 



