180 COSMOS. 



in languages and their affinities, monuments of the earlier 

 conditions of knowledge. 18 



building of the great pyramid of Cheops-Chufu, and 940 years 

 before the period generally assigned to the Deluge. (Compare 

 Cosmos, vol. ii. p. 475 and note.) In the calculations based 

 on the circumstance of Colonel Vyse having found that the 

 inclination of the narrow subterranean passage leading into the 

 interior of the pyramid, very nearly corresponded to the angle 

 26 15', which, in the time of Cheops (Chufu), was attained 

 by the star atDraconis, which indicated the pole, at its inferior 

 culmination at Gizeh, the date of the building of the pyramid 

 is not assumed at 3430 B.C, as given in Cosmos according 

 to Letronne, but at 3970 B.C. (Outlines of Astr., 319.) 

 This difference of 540 years tends to strengthen the assump- 

 tion, that a Drac. was regarded as the pole-star, as in 3970 it 

 was still at a distance of 3 44' from the pole. 



18 I have extracted the following observations from letters 

 addressed to me by Professor Lepsius (February, 1850). tk The 

 Egyptianrname of Sirius is Sothis^ designated as a female star ; 

 hence, fj 2&>$ is identified in Greek with the goddess Sote 

 (more frequently Sit in hieroglyphics.) and in the temple of 

 the great Ramses at Thebes with Isis-Sothis (Lepsius, Chron. 

 der JEgypter, bd. i. s. 119, 136). The signification of the 

 root is found in Coptic, and is allied with a numerous family 

 of words, the members of which, although they apparently 

 differ very widely from each other, admit of being arranged 

 somewhat in the following order. By the threefold transfer- 

 ence of th e verbal signification, we obtain from the original mean- 

 ing, to throw out -projicere (sagittam, telum) first, seminars, 

 to sow; next, extenders, to extend or spread (as spun threads;) 

 and lastly, what is here most important, to radiate light and 

 to shine (as stars and fire). From this series of ideas we may 

 deduce the names of the divinities, Satis (the female archer) ; 

 Sothis, the radiating, and Seth, the fiery. We may also hiero- 

 glyphically explain sit or seti, the arrows as well as the ray ; seta, 

 to spin ; setu, scattered seeds. Sothis is especially the brightly 

 radiating, the star regulating the seasons of the year and 

 periods of time. The small triangle, always represented yellow, 

 which is a symbolical sis;n for Sothis, is used to designate the 

 radiating sun when ari imaged in numerous triple rows issuing 



