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The enormous advance which has been recently made in our astronomical knowledge, and in our power of investigating the various bodies which people space, is to a very great extent due to the introduction of methods of work and ideas from other branches of science.

Much of the recent progress has been, we may indeed say, entirely dependent upon the introduction of the methods of inquiry to which I refer. While this is generally recognised, it is often forgotten that a knowledge of even elementary astronomy may be of very great assistance to students of other branches of science; in other words, that astronomy is well able to pay her debt. Amongst those branches is obviously that which deals with man's first attempts to grasp the meaning and phenomena of the universe in which he found himself before any scientific methods were available to him; before he had any idea of the origins or the conditionings of the things around him.

In the present volume I propose to give an account of some attempts I have been making in my leisure moments during the past three years to see whether any ideas could be obtained as to the early astronomical views of the Egyptians, from a study of their temples and the mythology connected with the various cults.

How I came to take up this inquiry may be gathered from the following statement:—

It chanced that in March, 1890, during a brief holiday, I went to the Levant. I went with a good friend, who, one day when we were visiting the ruins of the Parthenon, and again when we found ourselves at the temple at Eleusis, lent me his pocket-compass. The curious direction in which the Parthenon was built, and the many changes of direction in the foundations at Eleusis revealed by the French excavations, were so very striking and suggestive that I thought it worth while to note the bearings so as to see whether there was any possible astronomical origin for the direction of the temple and the various changes in direction to which I have referred. What I had in my mind was the familiar statement that in England the eastern windows of churches face generally—if they are properly constructed—to the place of sun-rising on the festival of the patron saint; this is why, for instance, the churches of St. John the Baptist face very nearly north-east. This direction towards the sun-rising is the origin of the general use of the term orientation, which is applied just as frequently to other buildings the direction of which is towards the west or north or south. Now, if this should chance to be merely a survival from ancient times, it became of importance to find out the celestial bodies to which the ancient temples were directed.

When I came home I endeavoured to ascertain whether this subject had been worked out: I am afraid I was a nuisance to many of my archæological friends, and I made as much inquiry as I could by looking into books. I found, both from my friends and from the books, that this question had not been discussed in relation to ancient temples, scarcely even with regard to churches outside England or Germany.

It struck me that, since nothing was known, an inquiry into the subject—provided an inquiry was possible for a stay-at-home—might help the matter forward to a certain extent. So, as it was well known that the temples in Egypt had been most carefully examined and oriented both by the French in 1798 and by the Prussians in 1844, I determined to see whether it was possible to get any information on the general question from them, as it was extremely likely that such temples as that at Eleusis were more or less connected with Egyptian ideas. I soon found that, although neither the French nor the Germans apparently paid any heed to the possible astronomical ideas of the temple-builders, there was little doubt that astronomical considerations had a great deal to do with the direction towards which these temples faced. In a series of lectures given at the School of Mines in November, 1890, I took the opportunity of pointing out that in this way archæologists and others might ultimately be enabled to arrive at dates in regard to the foundation of temples, and possibly to advance knowledge in several other directions.

After my lectures were over, I received a very kind letter from one of my audience, pointing out to me that a friend had informed him that Professor Nissen, in Germany, had published some papers on the orientation of ancient temples. I at once ordered them. Before I received them I went to Egypt to make some inquiries on the spot with reference to certain points which it was necessary to investigate, for the reason that when the orientations were observed and recorded, it was not known what use would be made of them, and certain data required for my special inquiry were wanting. In Cairo also I worried my archæological friends. I was told that the question had not been discussed; that, so far as they knew, the idea was new; and I also gathered a suspicion that they did not think much of it. However, one of them, Brugsch Bey, took much interest in the matter, and was good enough to look up some of the old inscriptions, and one day he told me he had found a very interesting one concerning the foundation of the temple at Edfû. From this inscription it was clear that the idea was not new; it was possibly 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 Edfû, 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, while 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.[1]

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, but 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 crystallised early ideas suggested by actual observations of the sun, moon, and stars. Next, there were apparently two mythologies, representing two schools of astronomical thought.

Finally, to endeavour to obtain a complete picture, it became necessary to bring together the information to be obtained from all these and other sources, including the old Egyptian calendars, and to compare the early Babylonian results with those which are to be gathered from the Egyptian myths and temple-orientations.

It will, I think, be clear to anyone who reads this volume that its limits and the present state of our knowledge have only allowed me really to make a few suggestions. I have not even attempted to exhaust any one of the small number of subjects which I have brought forward; but if I have succeeded so far as I have gone, it will be abundantly evident that, if these inquiries are worth continuing, a very considerable amount of work has to be done.

Of this future work, the most important, undoubtedly, is a re-survey of the temple sites, with modern instruments and methods. Next, astronomers must produce tables of the rising and setting conditions of the stars for periods far beyond those which have already been considered. The German Astronomical Society has published a table of the places of a great many stars up to 2000 B.C., but to carry on this investigation we must certainly go back to 7000 B.C., and include southern stars. While the astronomer is doing this, the Egyptologist, on his part, must look through the inscriptions with reference to the suggestions which lie on the surface of the inquiry. The astronomical and associated mythological data want bringing together. One part of that work will consist in arranging tables of synonyms like those to which I presently refer in the case of the goddesses. My own impression is that this work will not really be so laborious as the statement of it might seem to imply. I have attempted to go over the ground during the last two years as well as my ignorance would allow me, and I have arrived at the impression that the number both of gods and goddesses will be found to be extremely small; that the apparent wealth of the mythology depends upon the totemism of the inhabitants in the Nile valley—by which I mean that each district had its own special animal as the emblem of the tribe dwelling in it, and that every mythological personage had to be connected in some way with these local cults. After this work is done, it will be possible to begin to answer some of the questions which I have only ventured to raise.

I am glad to take this opportunity of expressing my obligations to the authorities in Egypt for the very great help they gave towards the furthering of the inquiries which were set on foot there. Many of my own local observations would, in all probability, never have been made if my friend Major A. Davis, of Syracuse (New York) had not invited me to join him in a cruise up the river in the s.s. Mohamet Aly and practically given me full command of her movements. My best thanks are due to him not only for his hospitality, but for sympathetic aid in my inquiries.

Dr. Wallis Budge and Captain Lyons, R.E., have rendered continual help while this book has been in progress, and I cannot sufficiently thank them; to the first-named I am especially indebted for looking over the proof sheets. I am also under obligations to Professors Maspero, Krall, and Max Müller for information on certain points, and to Professors Sayce and Jensen for many valuable suggestions in the chapters dealing with Babylonian astronomy.

J. NORMAN LOCKYER.