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

61 страница из 97

After a certain time, solar temples, if built at all, would be oriented either to the sun at some critical time of the agricultural—or religious—year, or to the solstices and equinoxes. But at first, until the fixity of the sun's yearly movements and especially the solstices and equinoxes had been recognised, it would have seemed as useless to direct a temple to the sun as to the moon. After a time, however, when the solstices and equinoxes had been made out, it would soon have been found that a temple once directed to the sun's rising place at harvest or sowing time, or at a solstice or an equinox, would continue for a long period to mark those critical points in the sun's yearly course; and when this yearly course had been finally made out it would soon be observed that the sun at any part of the agricultural year was as constant (indeed, as we now know, more constant) in its rising-and setting-place as a star.

But dealing with sun-worshippers, and endeavouring to think out what the earliest observers probably would try to do in the case of a solar temple, we see that, in all likelihood, they would orient it to observe the sun at one of the chief points in the year which could be best marked. I have said "which could be best marked," but how was this to be done? Evidently, if terrestrial things were to be assisted, the marking must have been by something exterrestrial, otherwise they would have been reasoning in a circle; and moreover we must take for granted that what was wanted was a warning of what was to be done.