For an instance, I may refer to the well-known temple at Medînet-Habû. We have there two temples side by side—a large temple, which was built later, with its systems of pylons and sanctuaries; a smaller temple, with outside courts, and, again, a sanctuary built much earlier. The direction of these two temples is very different; there is a difference of several degrees. It is very difficult indeed to understand why these two structures should have been built in that way if there were not some good reason for it. The best hitherto found is the supposed symmetrophobia of the Egyptians.
We find the same thing in Greece. There is the old Parthenon, a building which may have been standing at the time of the Trojan war, and the new Parthenon, with an outer court very like the Egyptian temples, but with its sanctuary more nearly in the centre of the building. It was by the difference of direction of these two temples at Athens that my attention was called to the subject.
THE BENT AXIS OF THE TEMPLE OF LUXOR, LOOKING TOWARD THE SANCTUARY.
If we study the orientation of these, we find that, like those at Medînet-Habû, they are not parallel; there is a difference of orientation. This method of coping with the changes of amplitude of the star apparently represents that adopted where there has been ample space to build another temple by the side of the old one when the star could no longer be seen from end to end of the old one. But another way was found where the space was more circumscribed, and that is well represented by the temple at Luxor, in which the addition is made end on. The suggestion is that, after the temple at Luxor had been built a certain number of years, the amplitude of the star had got a little out of the initial line, and the direction was changed at the time when it was determined to make the temple more beautiful and to amplify it by adding an outer court. There is another outer court and another very considerable change. There are four well-marked deviations.
CHAPTER XVI.
FURTHER INQUIRIES WITH REGARD TO THE STELLAR TEMPLES.
In the preceding chapter I discussed the suggestion, quite independently of any records the Egyptians may have left on the subject, that certain of the temples were oriented to stars; and I applied one test, that, namely, of the change of direction which was imperative if stars were observed for any lengthened period. In such an inquiry we must proceed with great caution.
We cannot make a statement regarding every particular temple with absolute certainty, for the reason that in the case of most of the temples the best Egyptologists cannot give us the most precious piece of information which we require from the astronomical point of view—that is, the date of the foundation of the temple. If in the case of these temples it were absolutely certain that each temple was built at a certain time with a certain orientation, we could tell at once whether or not that temple was pointed to any particular star.
In the absence of this precise information a general attack on the question has been necessary. The method adopted in the search has been as follows:—
(1) To tabulate the orientations of some of the chief temples described by the French Commission, by Lepsius and others.