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

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Now, in the earliest times, as I have said, the constant movements of the stars would have stood out in strong contrast to the inconstant movements of the sun, and I think that there can be little doubt that the first fixing of any point in the year was by the rising or setting of some star at sunrise—or possibly sunset.

It is obvious that this might have gone on even before the solstices and equinoxes were recognised.

When this came about, then temples might have been directed to the sun at a solstice or an equinox.

Was it difficult to do this? Did it indicate that the people who built such temples were great astronomers? Nothing of the kind; nothing is more easy to determine than a solstice or an equinox.

Let us take the solstice first. We know that at the summer solstice the sun rises and sets furthest to the north, at the winter solstice furthest to the south. We have only from any point to set up a line of stakes before the time of the solstice, and then alter the line of them day by day as the sun gets further to the north or south, until no alteration is wanted. The solstice has been found.