LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG. PAGE
[1].Present Sun Worship in Japan4
[2].The Celestial Sphere, Conditions at the North Pole5
[3].The Celestial Sphere, Conditions at the Equator6
[4].The Celestial Sphere, Conditions in a Middle Latitude6
[5].The Four Astronomical Divisions of the Year14
[6].The Various Bearings of the Sun Risings and Settings in N. latitude 51°14
[7].The Astronomical and Vegetation Divisions of the Year23
[8].Original Tooling of the Stones at Stonehenge44
[9].View of Stonehenge from the West45
[10].Copy of Hoare’s Plan of Stonehenge, 181046
[11].The Leaning Stone in 190148
[12].The Axis of the Temple of Karnak56
[13].Plan of the Temple of Ramses II. in the Memnonia at Thebes57
[14].One of the remaining Trilithons at Stonehenge59
[15].General Plan of Stonehenge60
[16].The Arrangements for raising the Stone70
[17].The Cradle and Supports71
[18].The Frame used to locate the Finds73
[19].Some of the Flint Implements77
[20].Showing the careful Tooling of the Sarsens82
[21].Face of Rock against which a Stone was made to rest83
[22].The Leaning Stone Upright85
[23].Stonehenge, 190586
[24].Map of the Stones made by the Ordnance Survey89
[25].Rod placed in the Common Axis of the Circle and Avenue94
[26].Alignments at Le Ménec99
[27].Menhir on Melon Island100
[28].Melon Island, showing Menhir and Cromlech101
[29].Menhirs of St. Dourzal102
[30].Alignment at Lagatjar (photograph)103
[31].Alignments at Lagatjar (plan)104
[32].Menhirs on Solstitial and May Alignments105
[33].Diagram for finding Declination from given Amplitudes or Azimuths in British Latitudes113
[34].Declinations of Northern Stars from 250 A.D. to 2150 B.C.115
[35].Declinations of Southern Stars from 250 A.D. to 2150 B.C.116
[36].The Conditions of Sunrise at the Summer Solstice in Lat. 59° N.119
[37].The Azimuths of the Sunrise (upper limb) at the Summer Solstice. Lats. N. 59°-47°121
[38].Maeshowe and the Stones of Stenness124
[39].Chief Sight-Lines from the Stones of Stenness126
[40].Variation of the Obliquity of the Ecliptic 100 A.D.-4000 B.C.130
[41].The Sight-Lines at the Hurlers136
[42].The Southern Avenue at Merrivale, looking East147
[43].Avenues, Circle and Stones at Merrivale, with their Azimuths154
[44].Cursus at Stonehenge, nearly parallel to the Merrivale Avenue155
[45].The remains of the Challacombe Avenue159
[46].The Sight-Lines at Trowlesworthy162
[47].The Circles and Avenues at Stanton Drew169
[48].The Carro, Florence194
[49].Cresset-Stone, Lewannick257
[50].First Appearance of May Sun in British Latitudes263
[51].Azimuths of the May Sunrise264
[52].The Merry Maidens269
[53].25-inch Ordnance Map of Merry Maidens showing Alignments275
[54].The Eastern Circle at Tregaseal279
[55].Photograph of Ordnance Map showing Sight-lines281
[56].Plan of the Mên-an-Tol283
[57].Photograph of the Mên-an-Tol284
[58].The Mên-an-Tol. Front View and Section285
[59].Photograph of the Ordnance Map of Boscawen-un288
[60].Diagram showing Azimuths of Sunrise 1680 B.C. and 1905 A.D.290
[61].Arcturus and Capella as Clock-Stars in Britain300
[62].A Night-Dial303
[63].Layard’s Plan of the Palace of Sennacherib305
[64].Layard’s Plan of the Mound at Nimrood306
[65].The Temples at Chichen Itza307

STONEHENGE

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY

In the book I published ten years ago, entitled “The Dawn of Astronomy,” I gave a pretty full account of the principles and the methods of observation which enable us to trace the ideas which were in the minds of the ancient Egyptians when they set out the line of a temple they proposed to build.

Numerous references to the ceremonial of laying the foundation-stones of temples exist, and we learn from the works of Chabas, Brugsch, Dümichen[1] and others, that the foundation of an Egyptian temple was associated with a series of ceremonies which are repeatedly described with great minuteness. Amongst these ceremonies, one especially refers to the fixing of the temple-axis; it is called, technically, “the stretching of the cord,” and is not only illustrated by inscriptions on the walls of the temples of Karnak, Denderah and Edfu—to mention the best-known cases—but is referred to elsewhere.

During the ceremony the king proceeded to the site where the temple was to be built, accompanied mythically by the goddess Sesheta, who is styled “the mistress of the laying of the foundation-stone.”