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

89 страница из 97

But this is not all. In the avenue, but not in the centre of its width, there is a stone called the "Friar's Heel," so located in relation to the horizon that, according to Mr. Flinders Petrie,[15] who has made careful measurements of the whole structure, it aligned the coming sunrise from a point behind the naos or trilithon. The horizon is invisible at the entrance of the circle, the peak of the heel rising far above it; from behind the circles the peak is below the horizon. Now, from considerations which I shall state at length further on, Mr. Petrie concludes that Stonehenge existed 2000 B. C. It must not be forgotten that structures more or less similar to Stonehenge are found along a line from the east on both sides of the Mediterranean.[16]

STONEHENGE, FROM THE NORTH.

It will be seen that the use of the marking stone to indicate the direction in which the sun will rise answers exactly the same purpose as the long avenue of majestic columns and pylons in the Egyptian temples. In both cases we had a means of determining the commencement and the succession of years.