So that, taking the lowest amplitude, the temple axis points almost 1° too much to the north.
I have already mentioned that the photographs I had taken of the temple axis towards, and from the outside of, the Ptolemaic pylon indicated a twist in the temple axis. This was a question that in the absence of accurate measurements could only be determined by an actual observation of the solstice.
This being so, I begged the intervention of Col. Sir Colin Scott-Moncrieff, the Under Secretary of State of the Public Works Department in Egypt, to detail one of his officers to make observations of the summer solstice of 1891. He was good enough to accede to my request, and I proceed to give extracts from the report of the officer in question, Mr. P. J. G. Wakefield, to Mr. Allan Joseph, the Director of Works and Irrigation:—
"In accordance with instructions received, I made the following observations at Karnak on June 21st, 1891:—
"I found that the points which I have marked A, C, D on the photographic plan (being the centres of the Pylon of Rameses I., the Pylon of Thothmes I., and the shrine or sanctuary of Philip III. of Macedon (?) respectively) were all in a straight line. B is a point midway between the only two opposite pillars of which the bases are intact (one set up by Rameses I., and the other by Seti I.), and was very nearly in line; probably the true centre between the pillars (which is difficult to obtain) would be exactly so. The centre of the Great Pylon (Ptolemaic) is not in line at all with these points, there being 1° difference between D A prolonged and A E; I therefore accepted the line D C A as the true axis.
PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF AMEN-RĀ, SHOWING THE POINTS REFERRED TO IN THE PRESENT CHAPTER.
"From an inspection made on June 20th, it appeared to me that the setting sun would not be visible from any of the points indicated by Professor Norman Lockyer. I therefore placed the theodolite at A. I regret to say that my above supposition was correct, as even from A I was only able to see a portion of the setting sun, the remainder being hidden behind the south wall of the Great Pylon. I obtained, however, one reading, the right limb at, as nearly as I could judge, the moment of impact of the sun's diameter with the hill."
Of the measures given the most important are the angle between the axis of the temple looking south-east from A and the north point 116° 23′ 40″ (amplitude 26° 23′) and the angle between the top of the hills and the horizontal 2° 36′ 20″.[37] These measures, therefore, entirely justified the result of the calculations I have before given, and prove that the interval of over 5000 years is sufficient to cause us to detect the change in the obliquity of the ecliptic by this method of observing the sunset at a solstice with an instrument built on so large a a scale.
Taking the orientation as 26°, and taking hills and refraction into consideration, we find that the true horizon sunset amplitude would be 27° 30′. This amplitude gives us for Thebes a declination of 24° 18′.