Astronomical Myths: Based on Flammarions's "History of the Heavens"

by J. F. Blake; Camille Flammarion

Any year that is regulated by the Pleiades, or by any other group of stars, must, as we have seen before, be what is called a sidereal, and not a solar year. Now a year in uncivilised countries can only mean a succession of seasons, as is illustrated by the use of the expression "a person of so many summers." It is difficult of course to say when any particular season begins by noticing its characteristics as to weather; even the most regular phenomena are not certain enough for that; we cannot say that when the days and nights become exactly equal any marked change takes place in the temperature or humidity of the atmosphere, or in any other easily-noticed phenomena. The day therefore on which spring commences is arbitrary, except that, inasmuch as spring depends on the position of the sun, its commencement, ought to be regulated by that luminary, and not by some star-group which has no influence in the matter. Nevertheless the position of such a group is much more easily observed, and in early ages could almost alone be observed; and so long as the midnight culmination of the Pleiades—judged of, it must be noticed, by their appearance on the horizon at sunset—fairly coincided with that state of weather which might be reckoned the commencement of spring conditions, no error would be detected, because the change in their position is so slow. The solar spring is probably a later discovery, which now, from its greater reasonableness and constancy, has superseded the old one. But since the time of the sun's crossing the equator is the natural commencement of spring, whether discovered or not, it is plain that no group of stars could be taken as a guide instead, if their indication did not approximately coincide with this.

If then we can determine the exact date at which the Pleiades indicated by their midnight culmination the sun's passage across the equator, we can be sure that the spring could only have been regulated by this during, say, a thousand years at most, on either side of this date. It is very certain that if the method of reckoning spring by the stars had been invented at a more remote date, some other set of stars would have been chosen instead.

Now when was this date? It is a matter admitting of certain calculation, depending only on numbers derived from observation in our own days and records of the past few centuries, and the answer is that this date is about 2170 B.C.

We have seen that, though it was probably brought from the southern hemisphere, the Egyptians adopted the year of the Pleiades, and celebrated the new-year's festival of the dead; but they were also advanced astronomers, and would soon find out the change that took place in the seasons when regulated by the stars. And to such persons the date at which the two periods coincided, or at least were exactly half a year apart, would be one of great importance and interest, and there seems to be evidence that they did commemorate it in a very remarkable manner. The evidence, however, is all circumstantial, and the conclusion therefore can only claim probability. The evidence is as follows:—The most remarkable buildings of Egypt are the pyramids. These are of various sizes and importance, but are built very much after the same plan. They seem, however, to be all copies from one, the largest, namely, the Pyramid of Gizeh, and to be of subsequent date to this. Their object has long been a puzzle, and the best conclusion has been supposed to be that they were for sepulchral purposes, as in some of them coffins have been found. The large one, however, shows far more than the rest of the structure, and cannot have been meant for a funeral pile alone.

Its peculiarities come out on a careful examination and measurement such as it has been subjected to at the devoted hands of Piazzi Smyth, the Astronomer Royal for Scotland. He has shown that it is not built at random, as a tomb might be, but it is adjusted with exquisite design, and with surprising accuracy. In the first place it lies due north, south, east, and west, and the careful ascertainment of the meridian of the place, by modern astronomical instruments, could not suggest any improvement in its position in this respect. The outside of it is now, so to speak, pealed, that is to say, there was originally, covering the whole, another layer of stones which have been taken away. These stones, which were of a different material, were beautifully polished, as some of the remaining ones, now covered and concealed, can testify. The angle at which they are cut, and which of course gives the angle and elevation of the whole pyramid, is such that the height of it is in the same proportion to its circumference or perimeter, as the radius of a circle is to its circumference approximately. The height, in fact, is proved by measurement and observation to be 486 ft., and the four sides together to be 3,056 ft., or about 6²/₇ times the height. It does not seem improbable that, considering their advancement, the Egyptians might have calculated approximately how much larger the circumference of the circle is than its diameter, and it is a curious coincidence that the pyramid expresses it. Professor Piazzi Smyth goes much further and believes that they knew, or were divinely taught, the shape and size of the earth, and by a little manipulation of the length of their unit, or as he expresses it the "pyramid inch," he makes the base of the pyramid express the number of miles in the diameter of the earth.

Now in the interior of the apparently solid structure, besides the usual slanting passage down to a kind of cellar or vault beneath the middle of the base, which may have been used for a sepulchral resting-place, there are two slanting passages, one running north and the other running south, and slanting up at different angles. Part of that which leads south is much enlarged, and is known as the grand gallery. It is of a very remarkable shape, being perfectly smooth and polished along its ascending base, as indeed it is in every part, and having a number of steps or projections, pointing also upwards at certain angles, very carefully maintained. Whether we understand its use or not, it is very plain that it has been made with a very particular design, and one not easily comprehended. This leads into a chamber known as the king's chamber, whose walls are exquisitely polished and which contains a coffer known as Cheops' Coffin. This coffer has been villainously treated by travellers, who have chipped and damaged it, but originally it was very carefully made and polished. It is too large to have been brought in by the only entrance into the chamber after it was finished, and therefore is obviously no coffin at all, as is proved also by the elaborateness of the means of approach. Professor Piazzi Smyth has made the happy suggestion that it represents their standard of length and capacity, and points out the remarkable fact that it contains exactly as much as four quarters of our dry measure. As no one has ever suggested what our "quarters" are quarters of, Professor Smyth very naturally supplies the answer—"of the contents of the pyramid coffer." There are various other measurements that have been made by the same worker, and their meaning suggested in his interesting book, Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid, which we may follow or agree to as we can; but from all that has been said above, it will appear probable that this pyramid was built with a definite design to mark various natural phenomena or artificial measures, which is all we require for our present purpose. Now we come to the question, what is the meaning of the particular angles at which the north-looking and south-looking passages rise, if, as we now believe, they must have some meaning.

The exits of these passages were closed, and they could not therefore have been for observation, but they may have been so arranged as to be a memorial of any remarkable phenomena to be seen in those directions. To ascertain if there be any such to which they point, we must throw back the heavens to their position in the days of the Egyptians, because, as we have seen, the precession of the equinoxes alters the meridian altitude of every star. As the passages point north and south, if they refer to any star at all, it must be to their passing the meridian.

Now let us take the heavens as they were 2170 B.C., the date at which the Pleiades really commenced the spring, by their midnight culmination, and ask how high they would be then. The answer of astronomy is remarkable—"Exactly at that height that they could be seen in the direction of the southward-pointing passage of the pyramid." And would any star then be in a position to be seen in the direction of the other or northward-looking passage? Yes, the largest star in the constellation of the Dragon, which would be so near the pole (3° 52´) as to be taken as the Pole Star in those days. These are such remarkable coincidences in a structure admittedly made with mathematical accuracy and design, and truly executed, that we cannot take them to be accidental, but must endeavour to account for them.

The simplest explanation seems to be, that everything in the pyramid is intended to represent some standard or measure, and that these passages have to do with their year. They had received the year of the Pleiades from a remoter antiquity than their own, they had discovered the true commencement of solar spring, as determined from the solar autumnal equinox, and they commemorated by the building of the pyramid the coincidence of the two dates, making passages in it which would have no meaning except at that particular time.

Whether the pyramid was built at that time, or whether their astronomical knowledge was sufficient to enable them to predict it and build accordingly, just as we calculate back to it, we have no means of knowing. It is very possible that the pyramid may have been built by some immigrating race more learned in astronomy, like the Accadians among the Babylonians.