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

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THE TEMPLE NEAR THE SPHINX, LOOKING WEST (TRUE), SHOWING ITS RELATION TO THE SOUTH FACE OF THE SECOND PYRAMID.

(From a photograph by Mr. Fearing.)

I confess I am impressed by this distinction; from the astronomical point of view it is so fundamental that almost a difference of race is required to explain it. I say this advisedly, although I know creed can go a great way, because among these early peoples their astronomy was chiefly a means to an end. It was not a story of abstract conceptions, or the mere expression of interesting facts whether used for religious purposes or not. The end was a calendar, of festivals and holydays if you will, but a calendar which would allow their tillage and harvest to prosper.

Now, it is almost impossible to suppose that those who worshipped the sun at the solstice did not begin the year at the solstice. It is, of course, equally difficult to believe that those who preferred to range themselves as equinoctials did not begin the year at an equinox. Both these practices could hardly go on in the case of the same race in the same country, least of all in the valley where an annual inundation marked the solstice.