256 STONEHENGE AND THE STARS 



Heel], the sun will be seen to rise approximately 

 over the summit of that monolith." 



And he proceeds : 



" This can hardly be accidental. It is, in fact, 

 impossible to conceive that the arrangement of 

 the trilithons in an open curve, with its opening 

 directed eastwards, and more especially that the 

 position of the central trilithon and altar stone 

 in relation to the ' hele ' stone and the avenue, 

 can have been the result of mere chance. If not 

 the result of chance, the disposition of the stones 

 must have been made with some purpose, and 

 that purpose cannot have been other than to 

 direct observers or worshippers to the point where 

 the sun rose in the heavens." 



And he strengthens his argument by producing 

 similar instances from Japan, where sun-worship 

 is actually practised. It is obvious that Stone- 

 henge might have been oriented in connexion 

 with a star, and in fact it was suggested in the 

 Astronomical Register that Sirius was the star in 

 question, and that in 977 B.C. it rose exactly above 

 the Friar's Heel, a fact which the writer supposed 

 would fix the date of that monument. 



Moreover, Piazzi Smith and Sir Norman Lockyer 

 have both of them endeavoured to show that the 

 Pyramids were oriented in respect of certain stars, 

 and Mr. Penrose has advanced similar theories 

 with regard to the orientation of some of the 

 Greek temples. 



However, the sun in the case of Stonehenge 

 seems a more likely object than any star, having 



