I can only read Classic and Oriental myths in translations, and I feel very sure that if any of the astronomic explanations here suggested for ancient legends should prove to be the right ones, scholars versed in the original languages in which these legends were written, if they supplement their linguistic knowledge by astronomic considerations, will be able quickly and with ease to develop the suggested explanations much further than it has been possible for me to do; and explanations of other astronomic myths—astronomic, that is, and not merely solar myths—will doubtless come to their minds as they follow similar lines of enquiry.
The steps by which travellers arrive at a far-reaching view are often very steep and arduous. I fear that many readers of this book will find the separate Papers in it dull and technical in themselves; but if they be considered only as steep and roughly-cut steps leading up to vantage points of chronological and historical observation, I believe that the ruggedness of the path will soon be forgotten in the absorbing interest of the results to be obtained by following it.
CONTENTS
| PART I | ||
| PAGE | ||
|---|---|---|
| I. | THE ACCADIAN CALENDAR | [1] |
| II. | THE CONSTELLATION ARIES | [24] |
| III. | GU, ELEVENTH CONSTELLATION OF THE ZODIAC | [44] |
| IV. | THE MEDIAN CALENDAR AND THE CONSTELLATION TAURUS | [56] |
| V. | ASTRONOMY IN THE RIG VEDA | [88] |
| VI. | NOTES.--AHURA MAZDA, ETC. | [149] |
| VII. | ANCIENT INDIAN ASTRONOMY | [162] |
| VIII. | THE CHINESE CALENDAR, WITH SOME REMARKS WITH REFERENCE TO THAT OF THE CHALDEANS | [185] |
| PART II | ||
| PLATES XV., XVI., XVII., AND XVIII. | [215] | |
| PLATES XIX., XX. | [226] | |
| PLATE XXI. | [230] | |
| PLATE XXII. | [239] | |
| PLATE XXIII. | [245] | |
| PLATE XXIV. | [248] | |
| INDEX | [257] | |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| [PLATE I]. | To face page | 13 |
| [PLATE II]. | „ | 36 |
| [PLATE III]. | „ | 40 |
| [PLATE IV]. | „ | 64 |
| [PLATE V]. | „ | 70 |
| [PLATE VI]. | „ | 74 |
| [PLATE VII]. | „ | 79 |
| [PLATE VIII]. | „ | 80 |
| [PLATE IX]. | „ | 118 |
| [PLATE X]. | „ | 121 |
| [PLATE XI]. | „ | 124 |
| [PLATE XII]. | „ | 142 |
| [PLATE XIII]. | „ | 174 |
| [PLATE XIV]. | „ | 198 |
| [THE DIDÛ DRESSED] | Page | 219 |
| [PORTION OF CEILING AT BYBÂN EL MOLOUK] | To face page | 233 |
| [BULL APIS] | Page | 233 |
| [OUTLINESOF TWO CARVED SLATES DRAWN FROM PLATES I. AND III. IN The Proceedings of the Society of Biblical ArchæologyFOR MAY 1900] | „ | 237 |
| [THE CONSTELLATION PEGASUS] | „ | 250 |
| [PLATE XV]. | At End | |
| [PLATE XVI]. | „ | |
| [PLATE XVII]. | „ | |
| [PLATE XVIII]. | „ | |
| [PLATE XIX]. | „ | |
| [PLATE XX]. | „ | |
| [PLATE XXI]. | „ | |
| [PLATE XXII]. | „ | |
| [PLATE XXIII]. | „ | |
| [PLATE XXIV]. | „ | |
ANCIENT CALENDARS AND CONSTELLATIONS