3'8 



NA TURE 



[August 3, 189; 



THE ASTRONOMICAL HISTORY OF ON 

 AND THEBES. 



T N a previous article I have attempted to show that 

 ■^ there was a considerable difference of astronomical 

 thought between those, on the one hand, who built 

 pyramids and temples facing true east and west and those, 

 on the other, who built solar temples not oriented to the 

 equinox, but rather, though not exclusively, to the 

 solstice. 



It was suggested that although in the matter of simple 

 worship the sun would come before the stars ; in temple 

 worship the conditions would be reversed in consequence 

 of the stable rising and setting places of the latter as com- 

 pared with those of the sun at different times of the year. 



Another suggestion was hazarded that sun temple- 

 worship might have been an accidental result of the sun- 

 light entering a temple which had really been built to 

 observe a star ; and that such temple sun-worship might 

 possibly have preceded the time at which the solstices 

 and equinoxes, and their importance, had been made out. 

 I think it is possible to show that this really happened, 

 and we owe the demonstration of this important fact to the 

 Egyptian habit of having two associated temples at right 

 angles to each other, because this habit justifies the 

 assumption that at On the single obelisk which now re- 

 mains not only indicates the certain existence in former 

 times of one temple, but in all probability of two at right 

 angles to each other. 



But this is only one point among many to which one 

 may appeal in approaching the study of the question. 

 Another of great importance is brought before us in the 

 masterly essay by M. Virey, entitled " Notices Gdnerales," 

 on the discoveries made at Der el-Bahari by MM. 

 Maspero and Grdbaut. 



In his account of the confraternity of Amen and of the 

 various attempts made by the Theban priests to acquire 

 political power he refers to the action of Amenhetep 

 IV. (Chu-en-Aten).i 



In the time of Thotmes III. the alliance between the 

 royal and the sacerdotal power was of the closest, and in 

 no time of the world's history have priests been more 

 richly endowed than were then the priests of Amen. Not 

 content, however, with their sacred functions, they aimed 

 at political power so obviously that Thotmes IV. and 

 Amenhetep 1 1 1., to check their intentions, favoured the 

 cults and priesthoods of On and other cities of the north. 

 Amen-hetep IV. went further ; he looked for alliances out 

 of Egypt altogether, and entered into diplomatic relations 

 with the princes of Asia, including even the king of Baby- 

 lon. This brought him and the priests to open warfare. He 

 replied to their anger by prescribing the cult of Amen. 

 The name of Amen was effaced from the monuments, 

 still the priestly party was strong enough to make it un- 

 pleasant for the king in Thebes, and to deal them yet 

 another blow, he quitted that city and went to settle at 

 Tell el-Amarna, at the same time reviving an old 

 Heliopolitan cult. He took for divine protection the solar 

 disc Aton, " which was one of the most ancient forms of 

 one of the most ancient gods of Egypt, Rfi of 

 Heliopolis."- Now let us say that the time of Amen-hetep 

 IV., according to the received authorities, was about 

 1450 B.C. The lines of the "Temple of the Sun" at 

 Tell el-Amarna are to be gathered from Lepsius's map, 

 the orientation is 13° north of west. This gives us a 

 declination of 11° north, and the star Spica at its setting 

 would be visible in the temple, and the sunlight at sunset 

 would enter the temple on April 18 and August 24 of 

 the Gregorian year. 



Hence, then, the temple was probably built really to 

 observe the sunset on a special day in the year. In this 



1 " Notices des Priacipaux Monuments Exposes au Mus6e de Gizeh," 

 p. 260. 1893. 

 - Gizah Calalo^ue, 1893, p. 68, 



NO. 1240, VOL. 48] 



view how appropriate was the prayer of Aahmes, Chu-en- 

 Aten's chief official. 



" Beautiful is thy setting, thou sun's disk of life, thou 

 Lord of Lords and King of the worlds. When thou unitest 

 thyself with the heaven at thy setting, mortals rejoice 

 before thy countenance and give honour to him who has 

 created them, and pray before him who has formed them, 

 before the glance of thy son who loves thee the King 

 Khu-en-aten. The whole land of Egypt and all peoples 

 repeat all thy names at thy rising, to magnify thy rising 

 in like manner as thy setting." 



Still perhaps more beautiful was the prayer of the queen. 



" Thou disk of the Sun, thou living God ! there is none 

 other beside thee ! Thou givest health to the eye 

 through thy beams. Creator of all beings. Thou 

 goest up on the eastern horizon of heaven to dispense life 

 to all which thou hast created; to man, four-footed 

 beasts, birds, and all manner of creeping things on the 

 earth, where they live. Thus they behold thee, and they 

 go to sleep when thou settest. 



" Grant to thy son, who loves thee life in truth, to the 

 lord of the land, Khu-en-aten, that he may live united 

 with thee in eternity. 



"As for her, his wife, the Queen Nefer-it-Thi, may she 

 live for evermore and eternally by his side, well pleasing 

 to thee ; she admires what thou hast created day by day." ' 



Still the light of Spica would not enter it axially if the 

 orientation is correct. This would have happened in 2000 

 B.C., that is 600 years before the time of Amen-hetep IV. 

 This is a point which Egyptologists must discuss ;- it is 

 quite certain that such a pair of temples as those of which 

 Lepsius gives us the plans could not have been com- 

 pletely built in his short reign, and they would not 

 perhaps have been commenced on heretical lines in any 

 previous reign during the i8th dynasty. It must there- 

 fore have been commenced before 1700 B.C., perhaps in 

 the 17th dynasty In any case it was certainly finished 

 by Chu-en-Aten. 



But this "temple of the Sun" was not built alone. 

 There was another at right angles to it, and while Spica 

 was seen setting in one, a star near 7 Draconis was 

 rising in the other. 



Remembering then that the temple attributed to Amen- 

 hetep IV. pointed to Spica, let us recur for a moment 

 to the temple conditions at Thebes. There, as we 

 have seen, the temple of Mut is associated with one 

 at right angles to it. facing north-west. The ampli- 

 tudes are 72|° north of east and lyj^ north of west. 

 I have shown that the temple of Mut would allow 

 y Draconis to be seen along its axis about 3200 B.C. / now 

 state that Spica would be seen along the axis of the rect- 

 angular temple at the same time. 



We have next to consider what had taken place at 

 Thebes, so far as we can trace it on the orientation hypo- 

 thesis since 3200 B c. ; but to understand thoroughly what 

 was done another reference to M. Virey's essay is 

 necessary. One of the chief aims of the confraternity 

 of Amen was to abolish the worship of Set, Sit, or Sutech, 

 that is generically the stars near the north pole, and. as 

 it can be shown, in favour of the southern ones. The 

 temple of Mut was the chief temple at Karnak, in which 

 the cult of the northern stars was carried on. 



We can now realise what the Theban priests got 

 Thotmes to do. 



In his day the cult of Spica (the solar disc, Aton, 

 Min, Khem), and y Draconis (the Hippopotamus and 

 Lion Isis) was supreme. The little shrine of the Theban 

 Amen was enlarged and built right aross the fairway 



1 Translated by Brugscb, "Egypt," p. 221. 



- Since the above was written, Prof. Flinders Petrieh.-is been good enoURh, 

 in reply to an inquiry, to state his opinion that the temple was entirely built 

 by Chu-en-Aten. Should this be confirmed, it may have been oriented 

 directly to the sun, on the day named, or more probably built parallel to 

 some foimer temple, for traces of other temples are shown on Lepsius 

 plan, and I presume Chu-en-Aten is not supposed t-> have built all of them. 



