By the temple of Hathor, then, if we assume that the record is absolutely true (and I, for one, believe in these old records more and more), and that Cheops only described a shrine founded by the Hor-shesu, we are carried back to circ. 5000 B.C. I am indebted to my friend Dr. Wallis Budge for the suggestion that the position of Denderah as the terminus of the highway from the Red Sea—which may soon again be reached by a railway from Keneh to Kosseir!—would have made it one of the most important places in ancient Egypt.
It is important to note that at a very early date the traffic between the Nile Valley and the Red Sea, and thence probably with Arabia and South Africa, flourished, and grew to be a by no means insignificant commerce.
According to Ebers,[57] "the oldest and most famous of all these highways is that which led from Koptos (Keneh, Denderah) to the Red Sea, through the valley now known as the Wady Hammamāt, and called by the ancient Egyptians Rohanu. It was a busy high-road, not alone for trading caravans, but from time to time for stonemasons and soldiers, whose task it was to hew the costly building materials from the hard rocks, which here abound, and to prepare the vast monoliths which were finished in situ, and then to convey them all to the residence of the Pharaohs. A remarkably beautiful kind of alabaster, of a fine honey yellow or white as snow, is found in these mountains." Another road led from Esneh or Edfû to the ancient port of Berenice. We shall see in the sequel that the temple of Redisieh on this route was dedicated to the same cult as that at Denderah.
If the above results be confirmed, we have a most definite indication of the fact that in the rebuilding in the times of Pepi, Thothmes III., and the Ptolemies, the original orientation of the building was not disturbed; and that in the account of the building ceremonies we are dealing as surely with the laying of the first foundation-stone as with the original plan.
In any case the consideration has to be borne in mind that the series of temples with high northern (and southern) amplitudes at Denderah, Thebes, and possibly other places, were nearly certainly founded before the time at which the heliacal rising of Sirius, near the time of the summer solstice, was the chief event of the year, watched by priests, astronomers—if the astronomers were not the only priests—and agriculturists alike. Now we know, from Biot's calculations, that this became possible circ. 3285 B.C., and that Sirius—though, as I am informed by Prof. Maspero, not its heliacal rising—is referred to in inscriptions in pyramid times.
Subsequent research may possibly show that these temples had to do with the heralding of sunrise throughout the year, the Sirian temples being limited to New Year's Day.
CHAPTER XXI.
STAR-CULTS.
The last two chapters, then, have brought us so far. There are two principal temples at Denderah. The smaller is called the temple of Isis. It is oriented 18½° S. of E. The inscriptions tell us that the light of Sirius shone into it, and that Sirius was personified as Isis. We can determine astronomically that the statement is true for the time about 700 B.C., which was the date determined independently by Biot for the circular zodiac referred to on page 18.
The larger temple is called the temple of Hathor. It is oriented 71½° N. of E. The inscriptions very definitely tell us what star cast its light along its axis, and give also definite statements about the date of its foundation, which enable us to determine astronomically that in all probability the temple was oriented to Dubhe somewhat later than 5000 B.C.
Now we are certain that Isis personified Sirius. That "Her Majesty of Denderah" was Sirius, at all events in the later times referred to in the inscriptions, is not only to be gathered from the inscriptions, but has been determined astronomically.