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

83 страница из 97

I shall show subsequently how the rise of the Nile, which took place at the summer solstice, not only dominated the industry, but the astronomy and religion of Egypt; and I was much interested in hearing from my friend Dr. Wallis Budge that the rise of the Tigris and Euphrates takes place not far from the spring equinox. This may have dominated the Babylonian calendar as effectually as the date of the Nile-rise dominated the Egyptian. If so, we have a valuable hint as to the origin of the equinoctial cult at Gîzeh and elsewhere, which in all probability was interpolated after the non-equinoctial worship had been first founded at Annu, Abydos, and possibly Thebes.

ssss1

The observations which have been made in Babylonia are very discordant among themselves, and at present it is impossible to say, from the monuments in any part of the region along the Tigris valley, whether the temples indicate that the solstices were familiar to the Babylonians.