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

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When I came home I endeavoured to ascertain whether this subject had been worked out: I am afraid I was a nuisance to many of my archæological friends, and I made as much inquiry as I could by looking into books. I found, both from my friends and from the books, that this question had not been discussed in relation to ancient temples, scarcely even with regard to churches outside England or Germany.

It struck me that, since nothing was known, an inquiry into the subject—provided an inquiry was possible for a stay-at-home—might help the matter forward to a certain extent. So, as it was well known that the temples in Egypt had been most carefully examined and oriented both by the French in 1798 and by the Prussians in 1844, I determined to see whether it was possible to get any information on the general question from them, as it was extremely likely that such temples as that at Eleusis were more or less connected with Egyptian ideas. I soon found that, although neither the French nor the Germans apparently paid any heed to the possible astronomical ideas of the temple-builders, there was little doubt that astronomical considerations had a great deal to do with the direction towards which these temples faced. In a series of lectures given at the School of Mines in November, 1890, I took the opportunity of pointing out that in this way archæologists and others might ultimately be enabled to arrive at dates in regard to the foundation of temples, and possibly to advance knowledge in several other directions.