126 ON THE REVOLUTIONS OF 



through Pisces and Virgo, which would give him the first centuty of 

 our era for a date. 



By this method, the division of the zodiac of the portico could no 

 longer have any relation to the colures, and it ^^'ould be necessary to 

 seek elsewhere for the mark of the solstice. M. de Paravey, having 

 remarked that between all the signs there were female figures bearing 

 a star on their heads, and going in the same direction ; and noticing 

 that the female only who follows Gemini is turned in a contrary di- 

 rection to the others, judged that she marks the tropic, or conversion 

 of the sun, and that this zodiac thus agrees with the planisphere. 



By applying the idea of the easting {orientement) to the small zodiac 

 of Esne, we should find the solstices between Gemini and Taurus, and 

 between Scorpio and Sagittarius. They would be even marked by the 

 change of direction of Taurus, and by the winged Rams placed across 

 in these two places. In the great zodiac of the same city, the marks 

 would be the position across of the Bull and the reverse situation of 

 Sagittarius. There would then only be one portion of the constella- 

 tion elapsed between the dates of Esne and those of Dendera : a space, 

 however, still too long for edifices so similar in construction. 



The late M. Delambre appeared to confirm these conjectures con- 

 cerning their more modern construction by an experiment on the 

 circular planisphere, for on placing the stars upon Hipparchus's pro- 

 jection, according to the theory of this astronomer, and the positions 

 which he had assigned them in his catalogue, increasing all the longi- 

 tudes that thus the solstice would pass through the second of Gemini, 

 he nearly reproduced this planisphere, and he says, " this similarity 

 would have been still more close if he had adopted the longitudes 

 which are laid down in the catalogue of Ptolemseus, for the year of 

 our era one hundred and twenty-three. On the contrar5^ on referring 

 back twenty-five or twenty-six centuries, the right ascensions and 

 declinations will be greatly changed, and the projections will have taken 

 an entirely different figure *. ' All these calculations," adds the great 

 astronomer, " lead us to the conclusion, that the sculptures are sub- 

 sequent to the epoch of Alexander." 



In fact, the circular planisphere ha\-ing been brought to Paris by 

 MM. Saunier and Lelorrain, M. Biot, in a work f founded on accurate 

 measures, and calculations rejolete mth sagacity, has determined that 



* Delambre. Note at the end of the report of the Memoir of M. de Paravey. 

 This report is printed in the new Annals of Voyages, v, viii. 



f See M. Biot's work, Researches on many Points of Egyptian Astronomy ap- 

 plied to the astronomical monuments found in Egypt. Paris, 1823, in 8vo. 



