4i8 



NATURE 



[August 31, 189; 



building in Greece could scarcely be imigined. As Mr. 

 Penrose remarks : — 



"Thebes was called the City of the Dragon, and tra- 

 dition records that Cadmus introduced both Phoenician 

 and Egyptian worship." 



It would be very surprising if we assume, as we are 

 bound to do, that these temples to stars were built under 

 Egyptian influence, that Sirius should not be represented 

 among them, that being the paramount star in Egypt at 

 a time when we should expect to find her influence most 

 important in Greece. Still, I have shown already that as 

 the Greek year ignored the solstice, the use of Sirius as a 

 warning star for all purposes of utility would not 

 come in. Mr. Penrose finds, however, that in spite of 

 -this Sirius was used for temple worship. 



" 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 reful- 

 gence at midnight. The date so determined is quite 

 consistent with the probable time of the foundation ot 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." 



Another question. Does the star follow the cult in 

 Greece as it does in Egypt .' 



In Greece we find the follov.ing : — 



" The star a Arietis is the brightest star of ^\it first sign 

 of the Zodiac, and would therefore be peculiarly appro- 

 priate to a temple of Jupiter. The heliacal rising of this 

 star agrees both with the Oiympieium at Athens and thit 

 at Olympia. There is a considerable difference in the 

 deviation of the axes of these two temples from the true 

 east ; but this is exactly accounted for by the greater 

 apparent altitude of Hymettus over the more distant 

 mountain at Olympia.^ 



"The Pleiades are coaimon to the following temples 

 of Minerva, viz. the Archaic temple on the Acropolis, the 

 Hecatompedon, and Suniuni. In the two former it is the 

 rising, the latter the setting star. 



" There must have been something in common between 

 the temples at Corinth, .Egina, and Nemea. The two 

 last, at any rate, are reputed temples of Jupiter." 



The Greek side of the inquiry becomes more interest- 

 ing when the connection between the orientation of the 

 intra-solstitial temples and the local festivals are inquired 

 into ; in Egypt this is all but impossible at present. 



A temple oriented to either solstice can only be 

 associated with the longest or with the shortest day ; if 

 the temple points to the sunrise or sunset at any other 

 period of the year the sunlight will enter the temple 

 twice whether it points to the sunrise or sunset place. 



Now Mr. Penrose finds that in Greece as in Egypt the 

 initial orientation of each intra-solstitial temple was to a 

 star, and this would, of coarse, secure observations of 

 the star and the holding of an associated festival at the 

 same time of the year for a long time. But when the 

 precessional movement carried the star away they would 

 only have the sun to depend on, and this they might use 

 twice a year. It is possible, as Mr. Penrose remarks, 

 there would hive 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 



^ With regard !o a temple of Minerva using a .A.rietis at Tegea, Mr. 

 Penrose writes : — '*. Minerva is alljwed by the pjets to have been able to 

 use Jupiter's thunder, so this is no misappropriation of the star, luno als] 

 seems to have claimed the use of i .\rietis as a'. Simis, atli atGlrgenti it 

 suits the orientation of the temple of Juno better than Spica. But Spica 

 seem> to have been onnected with the wjrship of Jun> and Diana in their 

 <raore strictly fe;na!e capacity." 



thought more convenient." He goes on to add, " 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 Panathenaia 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 (he 

 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 Synaecia, 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 lessei 

 mysteries." 



I have had to insist again andag.iin that in the case ol 

 the Egyptian temples the stated date of foundation of a 

 temple is almost always long after that in which its lines 

 were laid- down in accordance with the ritual. No vvondei 

 then that the same thing is noticed in Gieece. 



" In about two-thirds of the cases which I h.ive in- 

 vestigated the dates deduced from the orientations are 

 clearly earlier than the architectural remains now visibh 

 above the ground. This is explained by the templet 

 having been rebuilt upon old foundations, as may be seer 

 in several cases which have been excavated, of which tht 

 archaic Temple of Minerva on the Acropolis of Athens 

 and the Temple of Jupiter Olympius on a lower site ar( 

 instances. There are temples also of the middle epoch 

 such as the examples at Corinth, .Egina, and the latei 

 temples at Argos and at Olympia (the Metroum at the la? 

 named), of which the orientation dates are not incon 

 sistent with what may be gathered from other sources." 



The problem is, moreover, helped in Greece b) 

 architectural considerations, which are frequently lacking 

 in Egypt, of two temples it can be shown, on this evidenc( 

 alone, that one is older than the other. Such an appea 

 strengthens my suggestion that two of the temples of tht 

 Acropolis Hill were oriented to the Pleiades, by showing 

 the older temple to point to an earlier position of the stai 

 group. To these Mr. Penrose adds another pair a 

 Rhamnus, where he has found that there are two temple: 

 almost touching one another, both following (and will 

 accordant dates) the shifting places of Spica, and stil 

 anoth-r at Tegea. J. Norman Lockyer. 



[In a letter received from Mr. Penrose, giving me per 

 mission to use the above quotations from his preliminarj 

 account, he makes the following interesting state 

 ments : — 



" In my paper sent to the Royal Society there was ; 

 passage which seems to make it practically certain tha 

 heliacal stars were connected with the intrasolstitia 

 temples as derived from Greek examples alone, indepen 

 dent of the powerful aid of the Egyptian cases. 



"That the first beam of sunrise should fall upon thi 

 statue centrally placed in the adytum of a temple or 01 

 the incense altar in front of it on a particular day, i 

 would be requisite that the orientation of the templi 

 should coincide with the amplitude of the sun as it roa 

 above the visible horizon, be it mountain or plain. 



" That a star should act as time-warner it was neces 

 sary that it should have so nearly the same amplitude a 

 the sun that it could be seen from the adytum througt 

 the eastern door, if it was to give warning at its rising 

 or to have a similar but reversed amplitude towards th 

 west, if its heliacal setting was to be observed ; and 1 

 follows that in the choice of the festival day and the Qor 

 responding orientation, on these principles, both thi 

 amplitude of the sun at its rising and that of the sta 



NO. 1244, VOL. 48] 



