Fig. 65.—The Temples at Chichen Itza.
The explorations of Sir H. Layard at Nineveh, lat. 36° N., have shown that the temple in Sennacherib’s palace, which may have been a restoration of a much older temple, was also oriented to the May sun.
It is a pity that our present-day archæologists do not more strictly follow the fine example set by Sir Henry Layard in his explorations of Kouyunjik. When he had unearthed Sennacherib’s palace (700 B.C.) he was careful to give the astronomical and magnetic bearings of the buildings and of the temple which seemed to form the core of them. The bearing is Az. N. 68° 30′ E., giving the sun’s declination as N. 16°.
I am enabled by the kindness of Mr. John Murray to give copies of the plans which Sir H. Layard prepared of the excavations both at Kouyunjik and Nimrood, showing the careful orientation which enables us to claim Sennacherib’s temple as one consecrated to the May year, while at Nimrood (Babylon) the equinoctial worship was in vogue as at the pyramids.
In association with these plans of Layard’s, I give another by Mr. Maudslay of the as carefully oriented temples at Chichen Itza (N. lat. 20°) explored by him. In these temples, of unknown date and origin, the azimuths of two show that the May year was worshipped.[124]
The May-Year Monuments in Britain.
In the first glimpses of the May year in Egypt we have dates from 5000 B.C. It does not follow that it did not reach Great Britain before about 2000 B.C. because monuments made their appearance about that time. It is clear, also, that with the possibilities of coastwise traffic as we have found it, it might as easily have reached Ireland by then; 2000 B.C., therefore, is a probable date for the May worship to have reached Britain arguing on general principles; we now come to a detailed summary of the facts showing that it really reached Britain earlier.
Alignments in British monuments designed to mark the place of the sun’s rising or setting on the quarter-days of the May year have been found as follows:—
| Monument. | Position. | May and Aug. | Feb. and Nov. | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lat. N. | Long. W. | Rising. | Setting. | Rising. | Setting. | |||||||||||
| Merry Maidens | 50 | ° | 3 | ′ | 40 | ″ | 5 | ° | 35 | ′ | 25 | ″ | * | * | * | |
| Boscawen-un | 50 | 5 | 20 | 5 | 37 | 0 | * | * | ||||||||
| Tregaseal | 50 | 7 | 50 | 5 | 39 | 20 | * | |||||||||
| Longstone (Tregaseal) | 50 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 38 | 20 | * | |||||||||
| Down Tor | 50 | 30 | 10 | 3 | 59 | 30 | * | |||||||||
| Merrivale | 50 | 33 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 30 | * | |||||||||
| The Hurlers | 50 | 31 | 0 | 4 | 27 | 20 | * | |||||||||
| Stonehenge | 51 | 10 | 40 | 1 | 49 | 30 | * | * | ||||||||
| Stanton Drew | 51 | 22 | 0 | 2 | 34 | 30 | * | ? | ||||||||
| circle along avenue | avenue to circle * | |||||||||||||||
| Stenness | 59 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 13 | 40 | * | * | * | |||||||
I have already shown that it was the practice in ancient times for the astronomer-priests not only to watch the clock-stars during the night, but also other stars which rose or set about an hour before sunrise, to give warning of its approach on the days of the principal festivals.