This is so, and I now propose to give a general account of the conclusions so far arrived at, but I must in limine state that the account must be a brief one and more suggestive than final, for the reason that the lack of accurate local data stops the way.
In an inquiry of this kind it is well to work slowly out from the known. The facts which have been given will, I think, cause it to be generally agreed that in the temple of Isis at Denderah we have a structure which the inscriptions, as well as astronomical inquiry, show was certainly a temple oriented to Sirius. The other fact that New Year's Day in the Nile valley was determined for thousands of years by the heliacal rising of that star, is among the most familiar in the domain of Egyptology.
Obviously, then, the first inquiry must refer to the possible existence of other Sirian temples.
From 3285 B.C., when Sirius rose heliacally at the solstice, its declination has varied from 24° S. to 16½° S. in 500 B.C. The corresponding amplitudes for Thebes being 26½° and 18° S. of E.
Between these amplitudes we find the following temples:—
Sirius.
| Place and Temple. | Amp. | Sea Horizon. | Hills 1° High. | Hills 2° High. | Remarks. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S. of E. | Dec. S. | Years. | Dec. S. | Years. | Dec. S. | Years. | ||
| Karnak (Temple O) (Gr.) | 26°½ | 24° | 3300 | 23½° | 3150 | 23° | 3050 | This may have been a solartemple, as its amplitude is nearly equal to that ofthe sun at the winter solstice. |
| Dêr el-Bahari(Gr.) | 24½° | 22¼° | 2850 | 21¾° | 2700 | 21¼° | 2575 | |
| Dosche | 21½° | 20¼° | 2225 | 19¾° | 2050 | 19½° | 2000 | |
| Karnak (Temple D) (Gr.) | 21½° | 19½° | 2000 | 19° | 1800 | 18½° | 1600 | |
| Naga (Temple G) (Gr.) | 19° | 18¼° | 1500 | 18° | 1400 | 17¾° | 1250 | |
| Philæ (Ethiopian Temple) | 19½° | 18° | 1400 | 17½° | 1100 | 17° | 800 | Hills at least 2° high. |
| Denderah (N.W. Temple) | 18½° | 16¾° | 700 | Hills very low. | ||||
It is quite clear that we must not look for Sirian temples before 3200 B.C., because the heliacal rising of Sirius at Thebes before that time did not take place near the solstice. The above table shows that the earliest Sirian temple really dates from about 3000 B.C.[85]
But what star did Sirius replace? An inspection of a precessional globe shows at once that the star which rose heliacally at the solstice before Sirius was α Columbæ (Phact). Its declination has varied from 57° S. at 5000 B.C. to 37° S. at 0.
We have the following temples which might have been oriented to this star; and here I must repeat that once a star has been symbolised as a god or a goddess on account of its astronomical utility, the cult would be continued after the utility had ceased—that is, in this case, after Sirius had replaced Phact astronomically.