The dawn of astronomy : a study of the temple-worship and mythology of the ancient Egyptians / by J. Norman Lockyer.

  • Norman Lockyer
Date:
1894
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The dawn of astronomy : a study of the temple-worship and mythology of the ancient Egyptians / by J. Norman Lockyer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    the foundation of the temple at Edfu. From this inscription it was clear that the idea was not new; it was possiljly six thousand years old. Afterwards I went up the river, and made some observations which carried conviction with them and strengthened the idea in my mind that for the orientation not only of Edfu, but of all the larger temples which I examined, there was an astronomical basis. I returned to England at the beginning of March, 1891, and within a few days of landing received Professor Nissen's papers. I have thought it right to give this personal narrative, because, Avliile it indicates the relation of my work to Professor Nissen's, it enables me to make the acknowledgment that the credit of having first made the suggestion belongs, so far as I know, solely to him.^ The determination of the stars to which some of the Egyptian temples, sacred to a known divinity, were directed, opened a way, as I anticipated, to a study of the astronomical basis of parts of the mythology. This inquiry I have carried on to a certain extent, Init it requires an Egyptologist to face it, and this I have no pretensions to be. It soon became obvious, even to an outsider like myself, that the mythology was intensely astronomical, and crystalHsed early ideas suggested by actual observations of the sun, moon, and stars. Next, there were apparently two mythologies, repre- senting two schools of astronomical thought. ^ My lectures, given in November, 1890, were printed in Nature, April—July, 1891, under the title On some Points in the Early History of Astronomy, with the following note:— From shoi-thand notes of a course of lectures to working men delivered at the Museum of Practical Geology, Jerniyn Street, in November, 1890. The notes were revised by me at Aswan dui'ing the month of January. I have found, since my return from Egypt in March, that part of the subject-matter of the lectures had been previously discussed by Professor Nissen, who has employed the same materials as myself To him, therefore, so far as I at present know, belongs the credit of having first made the suggestion that ancient temples were oriented on an astronomical basis. His articles are to be found in the Eheinisches Museum filr I'/iilulof/ir, 1885.