Phact.
| 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. | ||
| Memnonia (Western Temple) | 58½° | 50½° | 3750 | 49¾° | 3700 | 49° | 3550 | Hills low. |
| Barkal (Temple B) | 53½° | 50° | 3250 | 49¼° | 3600 | 48¾° | 3500 | |
| Karnak V | 56½° | 49° | 3550 | 48¼° | 3400 | 47½° | 3250 | |
| Abu Simbel (Hathor Temple) | 54° | 48¾° | 3500 | 48° | 3350 | 47½° | 3250 | Hills nearly 2° high. |
| Dêr el-Medinet (Gr.) | 54½° | 47½° | 3250 | 46¾° | 3050 | 46° | 2900 | |
| Saboa | 51¼° | 46° | 2900 | 45½° | 2750 | 45° | 2650 | |
| Karnak (Temple J) (Gr.) | 51½° | 45¼° | 2700 | 44½° | 2525 | 43¾° | 2300 | |
| Medînet Habû (Small J J) (Gr.) | 51½ | 45¼° | 2700 | 44½° | 2525 | 43¾° | 2300 | |
| Barkal >(Temples J and H) | 47½° | 44½° | 2525 | 44° | 2400 | 43½° | 2250 | |
| Surarieh | 51° | 43½° | 2250 | 42¾° | 2050 | 42° | 1850 | |
| Medînet Habû (Palace K K) (Gr.) | 46½° | 40¾° | 1500 | 40° | 1250 | 39½° | 1050 | |
| Medînet Habû (Ethiopian Temple) | 45° | 40° | 1250 | 39° | 900 | 38½° | 500 | The hills may be taken as a little over 1° high. |
The temple of Hathor at Abu Simbel, embellished by Rameses II., was in all probability a shrine dedicated to Amen-t-Hathor about 3200 B.C. Amen-t seems to have been an Ethiopian goddess, for we hear nothing of her at Heliopolis or Memphis.
It follows that if this be so, Sirius succeeded to α Columbæ precisely as γ Draconis succeeded to Dubhe; but temples could still be dedicated to the old Hathor α Columbæ, while this was not possible for Dubhe, because it became circumpolar and never rose.
CURVES SHOWING THE DECLINATIONS OF SOME OF THE STARS USED BY THE EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMERS AT DIFFERENT EPOCHS.
It may also be pointed out that the temple V of Lepsius at Karnak finds its place in a series by supposing it to have been oriented to the S.E. instead of the N.W. as shown in Lepsius' maps. Such a mistake might easily have arisen in consequence of its ruined condition. It may be stated in favour of my view that I am acquainted with no temple in Egypt directed between the amplitudes 35° and 90° N. of W.
But so far we have dealt only with the summer solstice, and yet in Egypt there were people who lived in towns with E. and W. walls who, I take it, must have had a worship depending upon the equinoxes.
About 3500 B.C., Antares (α Scorpii) rose heliacally at the autumnal equinox as α Columbæ did, as we have seen, at the summer solstice. There is not much doubt, from the symbol of Serk-t that this goddess represented a star in the Scorpion. Further, at that date its rising took place due east, so any E. and W. temple—and many existed in Lower Egypt—might have been then used for observations of this star.
But about the same time the southern star, α Centauri, could have been used to herald the sunrise at the autumnal equinox.