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

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"The same symbolism is carried throughout the balustrades, the steps, and the two lower terraces of the altar. Four flights of steps of nine each lead down to the middle terrace, where are placed the tablets to the spirits of the sun, moon, and stars and the year god, Tai-sui. The sun and stars take the east, and the moon and Tai-sui the west: the stars are the twenty-eight constellations of the Chinese zodiac, borrowed by the Hindoos soon after the Christian era, and called by them the Naksha-tras; the Tai-sui is a deification of the sixty-year cycle."[14]

We find, then, that, the most important temple in China is oriented to the winter solstice.

To mention another instance. It has long been known that Stonehenge is oriented to the rising of the sun at, the summer solstice. Its amplitude instead of being 26° is 40° N. of E.; with a latitude of 51°, the 26° azimuth of Thebes is represented by an amplitude of 40° at Stonehenge.

The structure consists of a double circle of stones, with a sort of naos composed of large stones facing a so-called avenue, which is a sunken way between two parallel banks. This avenue stretches away from the naos in the direction of the solstitial sunrise.