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

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If we are not fortunate enough to possess such a map, the methods previously referred to for obtaining the astronomical north must be employed; observing the direction in which the sun culminates at noon will give us the south point astronomically; from observations of the pole star at night the astronomical north can also be determined. From the former of these observations the magnetic variation is obtained without any difficulty, even in the absence of accurate local time. When this is available other methods are applicable.

It is sad to think how much time is lost in the investigation of a great many of these questions for the reason that the published observations were made only with reference to the magnetic north, which is vastly different at different places, and is always varying. Few indeed have tried to get at the astronomical conditions of the problem. Had this been done with minute accuracy in all cases, either by the French or Prussian Commissions to which I have referred, it is perfectly certain that the solstitial orientation of Karnak and other temples, which I shall have to mention, would have been long ago known to all scholars.