296 Obfervations on the Zodiac at Dendera by Mr. Henley. [Nov. 1, 
perience. The monuments of remote ages 
are more remarkable for their rude bulk, 
than elaborate workmanfhip ; but, if this» 
be of the time affigned, it follows, that, in 
the united opinions of Denon and Four- 
rier, 75,000 years before Chrift was the 
happieft period of the aris aud feiences. So 
much for their conjoint decifion ! 
Taking, however, this calculation m- 
dependently of the ftru€ture itfelf, it is 
fairly admitted to be accurate, fo far as 
it is founded on equincdtial preceffions ; 
but, referving difcuffions on this head 
for a work fhorily to be publiflied*, it 
will be fuMicient to obferve, that I had 
thence fixed the age of this zodiac to the 
very year and day before the infcription 
afcertaining them was known, and which 
has not, even yet, been explained. 
The plate given from DENox reprefents 
the zodiac in two compartments, as it 
exifts on the oppofite plat-bands of the 
portico of the temple. The two large 
figures that embrace the whole, he fup- 
pofes, reprefent the year; and the winged 
emblem before their mouth, eternity, or 
elfe the paflage of the fun to the folftices. 
The difk, at the joining of the thighs of 
the upper figure, he pronounces to be the 
fon, whence proceeds a beam of light that 
falls upon the head of Jfs, which repre- 
fents either the earth orthe moon. ‘*The 
fun,” he continues, *‘fituated in the fign 
Cancer, may perhaps fhew the period of 
the erection of the temple, whilf the 
figures joined to the igns may mean the 
fixed ftars, and thofe in the boats, the re- 
volving bodies, the planets and the co- 
mets.” After offering thefe conjectures, 
this modeft Artift, under a conviétion of 
their importance, refigns to others all fur- 
ther development. 
Inftead of adopting what Dezoz has con- 
-jectured, it wili be proper to confider the 
zodiac anew. Accordingly, the female 
form bent over either divifion, is unguef- 
tionably the Ifis, which by Horapello is 
* A Difguifition on the Date affigned by 
Fourrier, Commiffioner of the Sciences and 
Arts in Egypt, to the ancient Zodiac there 
found: whence the extraordinary Darknefs 
recorded by Phlegon, and that by the Hifto- 
rians of China, in the Reign of Quamvu, are 
identified with the Darknefs at our Lord’s 
Crucifixion; the Difcordance between the 
Eclipfe noted by Ptolemy, as feen at Arbela 
and Carthage, is accounted for; the further 
Defideratum for afcertaining Longitude, re- 
quired by the Board at Paris, in their Report 
on Burg’s Tables, fupplied; and, thence, in 
Reference to the Prophecy of Balaam, the 
Birth of Chrift fixed. 
determined to be the year. The winged 
globe, according to Macrobius, is the fun 
commencing his courfe, The veil on the 
head of the Ifis is that myfterious one. - 
which, the famous in{cription afirms, ne 
mortal had ever withdrawn, On the upper 
bend or fhoulder of the lower figure are 
eight lines or units, denoting that the fun, 
at the cardinal points of the year, is in 
the eighth degree of the fign; for fo it is 
ftated to have been by Manilius at the time 
of the Julian reform, and fuch was, accord- 
ing to Columella, the adjuftment of the 
Metonic Cycle, compared with the Tables 
of Hipparchus. The four ftars, of 
eight rays each, are the dog-ftar, which 
governed the Egyptian year, and, being. 
eight months vifible in the upper hemi- 
{phere, had a month affigned to each rays. 
as the fun has.twelve rays to defignate the 
months of his courfe. Thefe four ftars 
here fignify a quadrennium, when, in the 
Roman year, an additional, or biffextile 
day, was added to the 365 days, which 
conftituted the Egyptian. Beneath are 
twelve other units, as making, in the bif- 
fextile year, the folar to exceed the lunar 
twelve days inftead of eleven. The little 
circle, with wings, on the brea of Ifis, 
marks a new but fubordinate proceffion of 
the fun’s courfe, after the quadrennium 
has been completed. The waving lines 
extending along the figure are the Egyp- 
tian hieroglyphic for flowing water; whilft 
‘the line of flars, each marking, by its fix - 
rays, as many portions of time, and, in 
the {quare comprifing them, the fquare of 
that number implies four times fix hours, 
oraday. Thefe, amounting to feventy- 
nive, exprefs two months or lunations, and 
twenty days over; which correfpond to 
thé two Junar months, added by Numa to 
the Roman year; thefe, with twelve days 
allowed, compeniate for the difference be- 
tween the ordinary lunar year, and the 
folar bifiextile; and eight days, anfwering 
to the fun’s advancement in the fign, com- 
plete the given number. _ From the bend 
of the leg downward, five days are fo dif- 
pofed as to thew the five fupplementary 
days above twelve months, of thirty days 
each, that conftitute theEgyptian year. This 
is evident, from the horale/s beetle annex- 
ed, which was, among the Egyptians, an 
eftablifhed hieroglyphic for a mark of 
thirty days. The three ftars on the band 
furrounding the legs, with the four en the 
‘fhoulder, fymbolizing -conjointly fever: 
years, give leventy-feven days as the diffe- 
rence between lunar and folar time, and 
thus reprefent at once the fixty-feven days 
which the year, by the reform of sci 
a 
