[123] See Dawn of Astronomy, p. 318.
[124] The temple conditions are approximately as follows:—
| PALENQUE. | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azimuths. | Decl. | ||||||||||||
| N. | 21 | ° | 30 | ′ | E. | 60 | ° | 15 | ′ | } | Stellar temples. Clock-stars. | ||
| N. | 18 | 0 | E. | 62 | 36 | ||||||||
| S. | 27 | 0 | W. | 56 | 17 | ||||||||
| S. | 66 | 0 | E. | 23 | 0 | Solstice | } | Solar temples. | |||||
| S. | 73 | 0 | E. | 16 | 0 | May | |||||||
| CHICHEN ITZA. | |||||||||||||
| Azimuths. | Decl. | ||||||||||||
| N. | 26 | ° | 0 | ′ | E. | 59 | ° | 0 | ′ | Stellar temple. Clock-star. | |||
| S. | 70 | 0 | E. | 19 | 0 | (?) | |||||||
| N. | 70 | 0 | W. | 19 | 0 | (?) | |||||||
| N. | 67 | 0 | W. | 22 | 0 | Solstitial | } | Solar temples. | |||||
| N. | 72 | 30 | 16 | 0 | May | ||||||||
[125] Dawn of Astronomy, p. 78.
[126] Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. 69.
CHAPTER XXX
THE LIFE OF THE ASTRONOMER-PRIESTS
The facts contained in the preceding chapters have suggested, at all events, that whatever else went on some four thousand years ago in the British circles there was much astronomical observation and a great deal of preparation for it.
In a colony of the astronomer-priests who built and used the ancient temples we had of necessity:—