THE SURFACE OF THE GLOBE. H9 



Does this division indicate, even in a general sense, a phenomenon 

 dependent on the precession of the equinoxes ? 



Does it not rather relate to some epoch, whose rotation would be 

 less ; for example, to the moment of the tropical year when such or 

 such of the sacred years of the Egyptians began, which being shorter 

 thaij the real tropical year, by nearly six hours, made the circuit of the 

 zodiac in 1508 years ? Finally, whatever meaning it may have had, 

 has it been intended thereby to mark the time when the zodiac was 

 engraved, or that when the temple was built ? "Was there no contem- 

 plation of recalling a previous state of the heavens at some interesting 

 epoch for religion, whether by observation at the time, or concluded on 

 by posterior calculations ? 



From the mere statement of such questions we may perceive how 

 complicated they were, and how any solution that might be adopted 

 must be subject to dispute, and how little susceptible of positive proof 

 in solving any other problem, such as the antiquity of the Egyptian 

 nation. Thus we may say that, amongst those who endeavoured to 

 draw a date from these data, there are as many opinions as there 

 have been writers on the subject. 



M. Burkard, the learned astronomer, according to a first examijj^,-! 

 tion, judged that at Dendera the solstice is in the Lion, and conse- 



rabeeus precedes it, and this latter is headed by the Twins marching in the same 

 direction. The Bull, on the contrary, meets them, going in an easterly direction; 

 but the Ram and the Pishes take the direction towards the bottom, or towards the 

 •west. 



At the band on the northern side, the Aquarius is near the bottom, or the west, 

 advancing towards the entrance, or the east, their feet turned towards the wall, pre- 

 ceded by the Capricorn and the Sagittary, which are going in opposite directions. 

 The other signs are lost ; but it is evident that the Virgin should go at the head of 

 this band on the side of the entrance. 



Amongst the accessory figures of this small zodiac, we must remark two winged 

 Rams, placed crosswise, the one between the Bull and the Twins ; the other between 

 the Scorpion and the Sagittary ; and each nearly in the middle of its band, the 

 second, however, rather more advanced towards the entrance. 



It was thought at first that, in the great zodiac of Esne, the division at the ear 

 trance was made between the Virgin and the Lion, and that of the bottom bcr 

 tween the Fish and the Aquarius. 



But Mr. Hamilton, and MM. de Jallois and Villiers, have imagined that they dis- 

 covered in the Sphynx, which preceded theVirgin, a repetition of the Lion, analagous 

 to that of the Cancer in the great zodiac of Dendera ; so that, according to them, 

 the division should be made in the Lion. In fact, without this explanation, there 

 would be only five signs on one side, and seven on the other. 



As to the small zodiac at the north of Esne, we cannot tell if there be any 

 emblem analogous to the Sphynx, because this part is destroyed *. 



* British Review, February 1827, p. 136 ; and the end of the CriUcal Letter [on 

 Zodiacomania, p. 33, 



