Читать книгу The dawn of astronomy. A study of the temple-worship and mythology of the ancient Egyptians онлайн

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THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE CIRCULAR ZODIAC OF DENDERAH.

There was even more than this, and something more germane to our present purpose. In several temples which were examined, zodiacs—undoubted zodiacs, representing a third group of finds—were discovered; these, also, were accompanied by inscriptions of an obviously astronomical nature.

At the first blush, then, it seemed to be perfectly certain that we had to deal with a people of an astronomical turn of mind; and here was the opportunity for the astronomer, which indeed the French astronomers did not fail to make use of. Where the philologist was for the moment dumb, it seemed as if the astronomer could be of use, giving explanations, fixing probable dates on the one hand; while, on the other, he would certainly be gaining a fresh insight into, and possibly filling a tremendous gap in, the history of his science.

The figure on the preceding page gives an idea of the method of presentation generally employed in these zodiacs.

I shall show in the sequel—for I shall have to deal with this part of my subject at full length in a subsequent chapter—that many of the animal forms represent at once mythological personages and actual constellations.