THE SURFACE OF THE GLOBE. 117 



distribution represents the state of the heavens at the moment when 

 these monuments were delineated, and that it would be possible thence 

 to decide on the date of the building of the edifices which contain 

 them *. 



But to reach the remote antiquity which is pretended to be deduced 

 from them, we must first suppose that their division had a decided re- 

 lation to a certain state of the sky, dependent on the precession 

 of the equinoxes, which causes the colures to make the tour of the 

 zodiac in twenty-six thousand years ; that it pointed out, for example, 

 the position of the solstitial point ; and secondly, that the state of the 

 iieavens represented was precisely that which took place at the epoch 

 ^•hen this monument was constructed] two suppositions, which of 

 themselves evidently suppose many others. 



In fact, m-e the figures of these zodiacs constellations, the real groups 



*Tlnis, atDendera (the ancient Tentyris), a city above Thebes, in the portico of the 

 great temple which faces the north *, there are on the ceiling the signs of the zodiac 

 aaarching in two bands, one of which is along the east side, and the other on the oppo- 

 site side ; they are each held in the embrace of a female figure of similar length, whose 

 feet are towards the entrance, the head and arms towards the bottom of the portico, 

 and consequently the feet are towards the north, and the head towards the south. 



The Lion heads the band which is in the western side ; he is directing his course 

 towards the north, or the feet of the female figure, and his feet are towards the east- 

 ern wall. The Virgin, the Balance, the Scorpion, the Archer, and the Capricorn, 

 follow in the same line. This latter is towards the bottom of the portico, and near 

 the hands and head of the large female figure. The signs of the eastern band begin 

 at that extremity when those of the other band finish, and are consequently directed 

 tDwards the bottom of the portico, or towards the arms of the tall figure. They have 

 their feet towards the lateral wall of their own side, and the heads in the contrary 

 direction to the opposite band. The Aquarius (Verseau) is advancing foremost, fol- 

 lowed by the Fishes, the Ram, the Bull, and the Twins. The last of the series, 

 which is the Cancer, or rather Scarabseus (or beetle), for this insect is substituted 

 for the Cancer of the Greeks in the zodiacs of Egypt, is thrown on one side on the 

 legs of the great figure. The place it should occupy is filled by a globe placed on the 

 apex of a pyramid composed of small triangles, which represent a kind of rays, and in 

 front of its base is a large female head, with two small horns. A second Scarabseus 

 is placed sideways and across on the first band in the angle ^hich the feet of the 

 large figure form with the body, and in front of the space where the Lion is advanc- 

 ing, which is rather behind. At the other end of the same band, the Capricorn is 

 very near the bottom, or the arms of the great figure, and on the band at the left 

 the Aquarius is at some distance from it, but the Capricorn is not repeated like the 

 Cancer. The division of this zodiac, from the entrance, is then betvveen the Lion 

 and the Cancer, where, if it be thought that the repetition of these Scarabseus marks 

 the di\'ision of a sign, it takes place in the Cancer itself; but that at the bottom is 

 between the Capricorn and Aquarius. 



In one of the inner halls of the same temple there was a circular planisphere in- 

 scribed in a square, which has been brought to Paris, by M. Lelorrain, and is now in 

 the king's library. There are also the signs of the zodiac, amongst many other figures 

 which appear to represent constellations *. 



The Lion there corresponds with one of the diagonals of the square ; the Virgin, 

 who follows him, corresponds with a perpendicular line directed eastward ; the outer 



* See the great work on Egypt. Antiq. v. iv., pL xx. 

 t See the great work on Egypt. Antiq. v.iv. p. 21. 



