THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER OLYMPIUS BELOW THE ACROPOLIS, AT ATHENS, ORIENTED TO α ARIETIS.
The above are all intra-solstitial temples—that is, the sunlight as well as the light of the star can enter them—and this enables us to note a certain change of thought brought about in all probability by the artistic spirit of the Greeks. The Egyptian temples were all dark, often with a statue of a god or a reptile obscure in the naos, and many were oriented so that sunlight never entered them. Mr. Penrose points out that almost all the Greek temples are oriented so that sunlight can enter them. Of such temples we have the following twenty-nine:—
| 7 | examples | from | Athens. |
| 3 | " | " | Olympia. |
| 2 | " | " | Epidaurus. |
| 2 | " | " | Rhamnus. |
| 2 | " | " | Ægina. |
| 2 | " | " | Tegea. |
| 1 | " | " | Nemea. |
| 1 | " | " | Corcyra. |
| 1 | " | " | Sunium. |
| 1 | " | " | Corinth. |
| 1 | " | " | Bassæ. |
| 1 | " | " | Ephesus. |
| 1 | " | " | Platæa. |
| 1 | " | " | Lycosura. |
| 1 | " | " | Megalopolis. |
| 2 | " | " | Argos. |
Now in all these Greek temples, instead of the dark naos of the Egyptian building, we find the cella fully illumined and facing the entrance. Frequently, too, there was a chryselephantine statue to be rendered glorious by the coloured morning sunlight falling upon it, or, if any temple had the westerly aspect, by the sunset glow.
It was perhaps this, combined eventually with the much later invention of water-clocks for telling the hours of the night, which led to the non-building of temples resembling those at Thebes and Denderah facing nearly north; of these, however, there are scattered examples; one of very remarkable importance, as it is a temple oriented to γ Draconis 1130 B.C., built therefore not very long after the temple M at Karnak, and this temple is at Bœotian Thebes! A better proof of the influence exerted by the Egyptians over the temple-building in Greece could scarcely be imagined. As Mr. Penrose remarks:—
"Thebes was called the City of the Dragon, and tradition records that Cadmus introduced both Phœnician and Egyptian worship."
It would be very surprising, if we assume, as we are bound to do, that these temples to stars were built under Egyptian influence, that Sirius should not be represented among them, that being the paramount star in Egypt at a time when we should expect to find her influence most important in Greece. Still, I have shown already that, as the Greek year ignored the solstice, the use of Sirius as a warning star for all purposes of utility would not come in. Mr. Penrose finds, however, that, in spite of this, Sirius was used for temple-worship.
"Leaving the solar temples, we find that the star which was observed at the great temple of Ceres must have been Sirius, not used, however, heliacally—although this temple is not extra-solstitial—but for its own refulgence at midnight. The date so determined is quite consistent with the probable time of the foundation of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and the time of the year when at its rising it would have crossed the axis at midnight agrees exactly with that of the celebration of the Great Mysteries."
"It is reasonable to suppose that when, as in the case of Sirius at Eleusis, brilliant stars were observed at night, the effect was enhanced by the priests by means of polished surfaces."