Orientation of the Pyramids and Temples in the S4cldn. 333 



u On the Orientation of the Pyramids and Temples in the Sudan." 

 By E. A. Wallis Budge, M.A., LittJD., D.Lit., E.S.A. Com- 

 municated by Professor Sir NqkmaxT,ockyer, K.C.B., F.R.S. 

 Received April 14, 1899. 



In the year 1897 I was sent on a mission to the Sudan by the 

 Trustees of the British Museum, and in 1898 I was again sent to that 

 country to complete the work in the places which I could not reach the 

 year before on account of the unsettled state of that unhappy land. 

 By the favour of Viscount Cromer and Lord Kitchener, the Sirdar of 

 the Egyptian army, I was enabled to visit sites which had not been 

 visited by Europeans for a great many years, and, by the unusual 

 facilities which these gentlemen afforded me, to make notes on matters 

 of scientific interest which have, in recent years, been widely dis- 

 cussed. Besides the examination of the ruins of temples and the copy- 

 ing of the inscriptions which the hand of time had spared, my wish 

 was to collect, so far as possible, accurate information concerning the 

 orientation of the pyramids in the Sudan, and to obtain measurements 

 of them with special reference to the work which Professor Sir Norman 

 Lockyer and • Mr. Penrose have done on the temples of Egypt and 

 Greece respectively. 



It will be remembered that a few years ago Sir Norman Lockyer 

 promulgated the theory that Egyptian temples and pyramids were 

 oriented to certain stars, which were sacred to certain Egyptian 

 divinities, and to the sun at certain points of his course. Having 

 worked through all the available material which had been collected by 

 himself and others, he came to the conclusion that his theory was 

 correct, and that with accurate data in his hands concerning a given 

 temple or pyramid, the astronomer would be able to supply the archaeo- 

 logist with a tolerably correct idea of the date when the site was first 

 covered by a religious or fimeral edifice. In the ' Dawn of Astronomy ' 

 a number of test cases were discussed with results which convinced me 

 of the truth of the theory ; and Mr. Penrose, working on the same 

 lines, applied it to the temples of Greece with such remarkable results 

 that my conviction was strengthened. It must, however, be admitted 

 that several difficulties still remain to be cleared away, but I think 

 that these will disappear when the temples and pyramids of Egypt 

 have been measured and surveyed according to modern requirements. 

 For no one can fail to notice that the plans published, even those in 

 the great work of Lepsius, present inaccuracies of a serious kind, 

 especially when we consider that a variation of a few degrees will 

 wreck the most careful calculation. The object of the present paper 

 is to inquire if, and how far, the pyramids of the Sudan are oriented 



vol. LXV. 2 c 



