CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE ORIGIN OF EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY--THE NORTHERN SCHOOLS.

So far we have dealt with the dawn of astronomy in Egypt. We have found that from the earliest times there were astronomical observations carried on, and that practically there were three schools of thought. To all three schools sun-worship was common, but we may clearly separate them by the associated star-worship. We have found worshippers of northern stars, east and west stars, and southern stars.

The northern star-worshippers we may associate with Annu, the east and west star cult with the pyramid fields at Gîzeh, and the southern star-worshippers with Upper Egypt.

What we have to do in the present chapter is to see whether the orientation of the structures helps us with any suggestions touching the question whether we have to stop at the places named and acknowledge Egypt to be the true cradle of astronomical science; or whether the facts we have considered compel us to go a stage further back, and to recognise that the true origin was elsewhere; that, in short, astronomy, instead of taking its rise in Egypt, was simply imported thither.

It would appear from the recent work of the students of the languages of Babylonia and Assyria that in these countries, if anywhere, there might have been civilisations more ancient than the Egyptian, which have already been glimpsed.

But before I go further something must be said about Babylonia itself, for the reason that it also was the meeting-ground of at least two different schools of astronomical thought. The facts connected with this subject are still to a certain extent involved in obscurity, which is little to be wondered at when we think how recently any knowledge has been available to throw light upon the past of these regions. I need, however, only briefly refer to them, and for this purpose shall use the two most recently published books dealing with the question which at present concerns us. I refer to Prof. Sayce's "Hibbert Lectures" and Prof. Jensen's "Kosmologie der Babylonier."

But what period are we to take?

It follows from the investigation into the orientation of Egyptian temples that the stars α Ursæ Majoris, Capella, Antares, Phact, and α Centauri were carefully observed, some of them as early as 5000 B.C., the others between 4000 and 3000 B.C. I have also shown that it is possible that at Edfû and Philæ the star Canopus may have been observed as early as 6400 B.C. Further, that the constellations of the Thigh (Ursa Major), the Hippopotamus (Draco), the Bull, and the Scorpion had been established in pyramid times.

It becomes important, therefore, if we recognise this as the dawn of astronomy in Egypt, to see if any information is extant giving us information concerning Babylonia, so that we may be able to compare the observations made in the two regions, not only with a view of tracing the relative times at which they were made, but to gather from these any conclusions that may be suggested in the course of the inquiry.

The inquiry must be limited to certain detailed points; we know quite well already, as I have stated before, that the omen tablets, which mention a king called Sargon (probably Sargon I. of Agade), who reigned in Babylon about 3700 B.C., prove unquestionably that astronomy had been cultivated for thousands of years before the Christian Era.[133] But to institute a comparison we must leave the general and come to the particular. I will begin with the northern constellations, as it follows from my researches that very early at Annu and Denderah temples were erected for their worship--the worship of Anubis or Set, as I have shown before; that is, of α Ursæ Majoris and γ Draconis.

THE ANNU SCHOOL. THE WORSHIP OF SET.

According to Maspero, Set formed one of the divine dynasties at Annu, and the northern stars seem to have been worshipped there. I suppose there is now no question among Egyptologists that the gods Set, Sit, Typhon, Bes, Sutekh, are identical. To this list possibly Ombo and Nubi should be added.[134] It is also equally well known that Sutekh was a god of the Canaanites,[135] and Bes is identified with Set in the Book of the Dead.[136]

It is also stated by Maspero that at Memphis[137] (time not given) there were temples dedicated to "Sutekh" and "Baal." In the chapter on the circumpolar stars I have suggested that they were taken as typifying the powers of darkness and of the lower world, and I believe it is conceded by Egyptologists that Anubis in jackal form was either contemporaneous with or preceded Osiris in this capacity.

In the exact centre of the circular zodiac of Denderah we find the jackal located at the pole of the equator; it obviously represents the present Little Bear.

Now, do we get any Babylonian connection so far as we have gone?

We learn, to begin with, from Pierret[138] that the hippopotamus, the emblem of Set and Typhon, was the hieroglyph of the Babylonian god "Baal."

Do we get the jackal constellation in Babylonian astronomy? Of this there is no question, and in early times. Jensen refers[139] to the various readings "jackal" and "leopard," and states that it is only doubtful whether by this figure the _god_ ANU or the _pole of the ecliptic_ ANU is meant. Either will certainly serve our present purpose, and a leopard in Babylonia might as easily symbolise the night as a jackal in Northern Egypt.

There seems little doubt that the jackal, leopard, hyæna, black pig (wild boar), and hippopotamus were chosen as the representatives of the god of evil and darkness (associated with the circumpolar constellations), on account of their ravages on flocks and herds and crops. If this be agreed, nothing is more proper than that the jackal should be associated with North Egypt, the hippopotamus with South Egypt, and the wild boar with a latitude to the north of Egypt (and perhaps of Nineveh) altogether. The representative of the god of darkness, then, depended upon the latitude. In this connection I may state that Drs. Sclater and Salvin have quite recently referred me to an interesting paper by the late Mr. Tomes[140] on the habit of the hippopotamus when it comes out of the water to exude a blood-coloured fluid from special pores in its skin. This explains at once why Typhon took the form of a _red_ hippopotamus, and why Mr. Irving, on the modern stage, couples Mephistopheles, the modern devil, with red fire.

I know not whether the similarity in the words Anu, Annu and An results merely from a coincidence, but it is certainly singular that the most ancient temples in Lower Egypt (Heliopolis and Denderah) should be called Annu or An[141] if there be no connection with the Babylonian god Anu.

With regard to Anubis, it is quite certain that the seven stars in Ursa Minor make a very good jackal with pendent tail, as generally represented by the Egyptians (_see_ page 276), and that they form the nearest compact constellation to the pole of the ecliptic.

The worship of Anubis as god of the dead, or the night god, whether associated with the Babylonian Anu or not, was supreme till the time of Men-Kau-Rā, the builder of the third pyramid of Gîzeh[142] (3633 B.C., Brugsch; 4100 B.C., Mariette). Osiris is not mentioned. The coffin-lid of this king with the prayer to Osiris "marks a new religious development in the annals of Egypt. The absorption of the justified soul in Osiris, the cardinal doctrine of the Ritual of the Dead, makes its appearance here for the first time."

It seems extremely probable, therefore, that the worship of the circumpolar stars went on in Babylonia as well as in Egypt in the earliest times we can get at.

A very wonderful thing it is that, apparently in very early times, the Babylonians had made out the pole of the equator as contradistinguished from the pole of the ecliptic. This they called Bīl. With this Jensen finds no star associated,[143] but 6000 B.C. this pole would be not far removed from those stars in the present constellation Draco, out of which I have suggested that the old Egyptian asterism of the hippopotamus was formed.

Nor was this all; movements in relation to the ecliptic had been differentiated from movements in relation to the equator. We have inscriptions running:--

"_The way in reference to Anu_," that is the ecliptic with its pole at Anu.

"_The way in reference to Bīl_," the equator with its pole at Bīl.

In other words, the daily and yearly apparent movements of the heavenly bodies were clearly distinguished, while we note also

_Kabal šami_, "the middle of the heavens," defining the meridian.

So far as I can make out, when Anubis was supreme in Egypt, the only sun-gods at Memphis and Annu were Rā and Atmu. Ptah appears to have been a mixed sun-star god, _i.e._, Capella heralding the sunrise in the Harvest Time.

Now I learn from Prof. Sayce[144] that in Babylonia Anu and Bīl ranked as two members of a triad from the commencement of the Semitic period, the third member being probably a southern star symbolised as we shall see in the sequel; it is only in later times in Babylonia apparently that we get a triad consisting of sun, moon, and Venus,[145] Venus being replaced at Babylon by Sirius.[146]

To the two northern divinities temples were built; both were worshipped in one temple at Babylon,[147] which must therefore have been oriented due north; and the pole of the equator (the altitude of which is equal to the latitude of the place) was probably in some way indicated. Here there was no rising or setting observation, for Eridu, the most southern of the old Babylonian cities, had about the same latitude as Bubastis, in Egypt. The pole of the ecliptic (Anu) would revolve round the pole of the equator (Bīl) always above the horizon.

So that since Sutekh = Anu and Baal = Bīl,

the temple at Memphis to those divinities reported by Maspero (see _ante_) must have been oriented in the same way as the one at Babylon, that is to the north; and if the above evidence be considered strong enough to enable us to associate the Babylonian Bīl with the Egyptian Taurt, we have not only Ursa Minor but Draco represented in the early worship and mythology both of Egypt and of Babylonia.

According to Prof. Sayce[148] there is distinct evidence of a change of thought with regard to Anu in Babylonia--there certainly were great changes of thought in Egypt with regard to Anubis. Observations of stars near the pole of the ecliptic appear to have been utilised before they were taken as representing either the superior or inferior powers--before, in fact, the Anubis or Set stage _quá_ Egypt was reached. After this had been accomplished there was still another advance, in which Anu assigns places to sun, moon, and evening star, and symbolises the forces of nature.

There is evidence, though unfortunately it is very meagre, that the temple worship was very similar in the two countries.

In the ceremonials in the temples the statues of the gods in boats or arks were always carried in procession.[149] The same rectangular arrangement of temples which held in Egypt, held also in Babylonia, and this perhaps may be the reason why Bīl seems so often to refer to the sun, whereas it was the name given to the combined worship. Sometimes, on the other hand, the worship of the stars is distinctly referred to as taking place in a solar temple. Thus at Marduk's temple, E-Sagili, we are told that "two hours after nightfall the priest must come and take of the waters of the river; must enter into the presence of Bīl, and putting on a stole in the presence of Bīl must say this prayer," etc.[150] The temple, then, will probably have been oriented to the north. Night prayers in a sun-temple afford pretty good indications of a mixed cult.

The evidence, then, seems conclusive that by the time of the founding of the temple at Annu a knowledge of the stars near the pole of the equator, and of the importance of observing them, was common to N. Egypt and to the region N.E. of it. Whether the worship of Set was introduced into Egypt from this region, or whether there was a common origin, must for the present, then, remain undetermined.

THE EQUINOCTIAL SCHOOL--THE WORSHIP OF THE SPRING-SUN.

The East and West orientation, as we have seen, is chiefly remarkable at the pyramids of Gîzeh and the associated temples, but it is not confined to them.

The argument in favour of these structures being the work of intruders is that a perfectly new astronomical idea comes in, one not represented at Annu and quite out of place in Egypt, with the solstitial rising river, as the autumnal equinox was at Eridu, with the river rising at the spring equinox.

We are justified from what is known regarding the rise of the Nile as dominating and defining the commencement of the Egyptian year at the solstice, in concluding that other ancient peoples placed under like conditions would act in the same way; and if these conditions were such that spring would mean sowing-time and autumn harvest-time, their year would begin at an equinox.

Now what the valley of the Nile was to Egypt those of the Tigris and the Euphrates were to the Babylonian empire. Like the Nile, these valleys were subject to annual inundations, and their fertility depended, as in Egypt, upon the manner in which the irrigation was looked after.

But unlike the Nile, the commencement of the inundation of these rivers took place near the vernal equinox; hence the year, we may assume, began then, and, reasoning by analogy, the worship in all probability was equinoctial.

A people entering Egypt from this region, then, would satisfy one condition of the problem. But is there any evidence that this people built their solar temples and temple walls east and west, and that they also built pyramids?

There is ample evidence (referred to in Chapter IX.)--although, alas! the structures in Babylonia, being generally built in brick and not in stone, no longer remain, as do those erected in Egypt. Still, in spite of the absence of the possibility of a comparative study, research has shown that in the whole region to the north-east of Egypt the temenos walls of temples and the walls of towns run east and west; and though at present actual dates cannot be given, a high antiquity is suggested in the case of some of them. Further, as has been already pointed out, the temples which remain in that region where stone was procurable, as at Palmyra, Baalbek, Jerusalem, all lie east and west.

But more than this, it is well known that from the very earliest times pyramidal structures, called ziggurats, some 150 feet high, were erected in each important city. These were really observatories; they were pyramids built in steps, as is clearly shown from pictures found on contemporary tablets; and one with seven steps and of great antiquity, it is known, was restored by Nebuchadnezzar II. about 600 B.C. at Babylon.

A careful study of the historical references to the various pyramids built in Egypt, leaves it beyond doubt that the step pyramids are the oldest. They could, then, most easily have been constructed on the Babylonian model, and in this fact we have an additional argument for the intrusion of the pyramid builders into Egypt from Babylonia.

But did this equinox-worshipping, pyramid-building race live at anything like the time required?

There is no doubt now in the minds of scholars that the evidence is conclusive that among the kings of Babylonia were the following:--[151]

B.C. Entenna 4200 Naram-Sin 3800 Sargon I. 3750

The date of the earliest known pyramid in Egypt may perhaps be put down as about 3700 B.C. (Brugsch), or 4200 B.C. (Mariette).

Hence it seems that a third line of evidence is in favour of the Babylonian intrusion. There was undoubtedly an equinox-worshipping, pyramid-building race existing in Babylonia at the time the Egyptian pyramids are supposed to have been built.

Another connecting link is found in the statues of Chephren discovered in the temple at the pyramids, and at Tel-loh (ancient Lagash) by M. de Sarzec in 1881. This last find consisted of some large statues of diorite, and the attitude is nearly identical with that of Chephren himself as represented in the statues in the museum of Gîzeh.

This indicates equality in the arts, and the possession of similar tools, in Chaldæa and Egypt about the time in question. Further it is supposed that the diorite out of which both series of statues were fashioned came out of the same quarry in Sinai. The characters in which the inscriptions are written are in what is termed "line" Babylonian--_i.e._, they resemble pictures more than cuneiform characters; and the standard of measurement marked upon the plan of the city, which one of the figures of Tel-loh holds upon his knees, is the same as the standard of measurement of the Egyptian pyramid builders--the cubit of 20·63, not the Assyro-Babylonian cubit of 21·6.[152]

Now, although with regard to the cult of the northern stars it was impossible to decide whether the Egyptian school of astronomers came from Babylonia or from a source common to both countries, it is clear that with regard to the equinoctial cult we are limited absolutely to Babylonia as the special source. The coincidence in time of the same kind of buildings and the same art in the two countries puts a common origin out of the question.

To sum up, then, so far as we have gone, both the north-star worship and the equinoctial worship were imported into Egypt.