806 
MR. F. C. PENROSE ON THE RESULTS OF AN EXAMINATION 
As respects Egypt, there is the strongest possible evidence that, when a temple was 
built, the direction of the axis was pointed to the place on the horizon where some con¬ 
spicuous star would rise or set. There is distinct hieroglyphical evidence that such was 
the case. Mr. Lockyer has referred to these records at some length in ‘Nature’ for 
Jan. 18, 1892. 1 quote here one passage, being a translation from an hieroglyphical 
relation of the rebuilding of a temple in the time of Seti I., about 1445 b.c. : — “ The 
living God, the magnificent son of Asti (a name of Thoth), nourished by the sublime 
goddess in the temple of the sovereign of the country, stretches the rope with joy. With 
liis glance at Ak (the middle ?) of the Bull’s Thigh constellation, he establishes the 
temple-house of the mistress of Denderah, as took place before.” At another place the 
King says :—“ Looking to the sky at the course of the rising stars (and) recognizing 
the Ak of the Bull’s Thigh constellation, I establish the corners of the temple of her 
majesty.” 
The point being considered as proved that the axis of a temple was pointed to the 
rising or setting of some particular star, the next stejD is to discover which star was 
chosen; and if this can be found, an astronomical clue to the date of the foundation 
is at once obtained ; for, though the amplitude of the star—that is, its angular distance 
from true east or west at rising or setting—by reason of the precession of the equi¬ 
noxes, woidd not now coincide with the orientation angle, the date at which it did so 
can be exactly recovered. 
And there is seldom much difficulty in discovering the star, for the stars which 
could have been observed in a given direction, and bright enough to be seen through 
an atmosphere always somewhat hazy at low altitudes, are not numerous, so that there 
is little chance of error in deciding which was the star that suited the orientation. 
Besides the hieroglyphical, there is good architectural evidence of stellar orientation. 
There are instances in Egyptian temples where the doorways have been altered, so as 
to keep a rising or setting star in view as it deviated from the axis which at first had 
been directed towards it; and when this plan could succeed no longer, in more than 
one instance a new temple, following the same cult, has been founded alongside of the 
earlier one, at a different oiientation angle, for the purpose of continuing the obser¬ 
vation of the same star. 
In the first place, it may be convenient if T explain very briefly how it is that the 
precession of the equinoxes comes into play in this inquiry. 
It is well and generally known that the oi’bit of the earth is in the form of an 
ellipse, situate in a plane passing through the Sun and through the centre of the 
earth, and called the plane of the ecliptic ; and that the earth’s diurnal rotation takes 
place upon an axis inclined to the plane of the orbit, at an angle at present measuring 
about twenty-three degrees and a half, but which fluctuates very slowly between 
small limits. 
Celestial objects are measured upon an imaginary sphere, of indefinite diameter, 
centrally placed with regard to the earth, in two different ways. The starting points 
