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16.P73
3 1924
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book
is in
restrictions in
text.
http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924012305789
EMMELINE
M.
PLUNKET
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET,
1903
a
W.
PREFACE
The
some
series
Papers
here
collected
and reprinted,
with
alterations,
;
arrived
at,
one
one leading
clue.
made by
by him
At page
"
50 he thus wrote
The
standard
astrological
work
of
the
king of Agane,
in the i6th
century b.c."
viii
PREFACE
arranged so as
;
and Nisan,
Zodiacal
point of
the
sign.
first
month, answered
the sun
still
to
the
first first
Now
entered the
From
would have done so since 2540 that epoch backwards to 4698 B.C.
it
and the
second
month
of
the
Accadian
year,
The
fix
precession
the extreme
of the
antiquity of the
ancient
Babylonian
country."
after this sentence
had been
of
archaeologists,
as
firm
the
result
much
the
came
to
the
conviction
far
it
that
date
of
earlier
than
had been
supposed
and
was placed by
was
in
PREFACE
by Accadian astronomers of Nisan
of the
year, as
first
ix
month
and of Aries as
first
constellation of
when
that
to
my mind namely,
solstice,
the
supposition
that
when
winter
not
sun's
the
spring
into
equinox,
coincided
stellation
with
Aries.
the
entry
the
conas
place,
astronomy teaches
of 6000
B.C.
first
round numbers,
In the
this supposition
and
stated, the
clue afforded
in
by
it,
the various
subjects
discussed
successive
Papers claimed
my
attention, as
by degrees
the
detached
calendars
fitted
pieces
of
information
nations the
concerning
to
of ancient
came
hand,
and
themselves,
like
pieces
of a
dissected
PREFACE
The
study of calendars marked by
necessitates
Zodiacal
constellations
an
acquaintance
with
the
to
were
be
observed
through
the
presiding
changing seasons.
Such
it
mechanical adjustment to
of thinking
see,
them
out,
duced
after
in
of the "Poles of
tions
constella-
a
more
revolution
by
English
and
graphically
and
as
epigrammatically
"le
by
des
French
fixes."
astronomers
mouvement
PREFACE
in
xi
the
explanatory notes
which
accompany the
chronological
problems which
I
may be
discussed
believe,
by the help
to various astronomical
me
in
the
course
of
studying
the
position
of
at
Zodiacal
different
I
and
extra-Zodiacal
constellations
in
translations,
and
feel
any
ancient
ones,
in
legends
should
in
prove
the
to
be
the
right
scholars
versed
original
if
languages
they supple-
ment
knowledge
by
astronomic
than
me
to
do
and ex-
astronomic,
doubtless
solar
myths
will
xii
PREFACE
to
come
their
lines
of enquiry.
The
steps by which
fear that
many
separate Papers in
selves
;
dull
and technical
in
themsteep
but
if
vantage points
observation,
I
chronological
and
historical
be forgotten
in the
to be obtained
by following
CONTENTS
PART
I.
...
.
PAGE
I
II.
24
ZODI.\C
.
III.
44
IV.
...
.
V.
VI.
-56 .88
-149 .162
1
AHURA
VII.
VIIl.
THE CHINESE CALENDAR, WITH SOME REMARKS WITH REFERENCE TO THAT OF THE CHALDEANS
85
PART
PLATES PLATES
XV., XVI., XVII.,
II
AND
XVIII.
-215
226 230
239
245
XIX., XX.
. .
PLATE XXI.
PLATE PLATE
XXII.
XXIII.
.
....
PLATE XXIV.
248 257
INDEX
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATE
I.
xvi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
DRAWN FROM
.
AND
IIL
IN
T/ie
Proceedings of the
...
Page 237
250
.At End
PLATE PLATE
PLATE
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
PLATE XXIV.
THE
ACCADIAN
CALENDAR
January 1892]
in
their
book Astronothree
second century
B.C.
From
these tablets,
we
[part
i.
enabled the
Babylonian as-
almanacs
in
moon,
throughout
the
year.
These
positions
in
and the
groups,
ecliptic
was
portioned
off
in
into
twelve
coinciding the
very closely
position
and
extent with
as
twelve divisions
of
the
Zodiac
we now know them. As to the calendar or mode of reckoning the year, we find that the order and names of
:
Nisannu
(or
Of
doubled
these
as
Sami
last
:
(the
Adaru Arki
years
Adar).
that
is
The Babylonian
to
were
soli-lunar
say,
the
year
and
year
fifty-four
days,
was
bound
to
the
solar
of three
hundred
and
sixty-five
days
by
PART
I.]
CALENDAR
as
200 B.C.
required,
intercalating,
occasion
thirteenth
month.
Out
there
were seven
The
first
like
some of our
of
church
festivals,
the
[schwankende).
The
in
Epping and
hence
the
began
with
Nisan,
This
in
is
a sketch
the
second century
of
as
drawn
from
the
work
named.
the
two
learned
Germans
above-
Now we
number
the
find
in
the British
Museum
of
a great
to
of trade
Catalogue,
years."
over
of
two
the
;
thousand
There
"tablets
time of Rim-sin,
tablets
of
the
des Jahres
betrifft,
so
sie in
ihre Jahre mit dem Nisan, also im Friihjahr begann." (Epping and Strassmaier, Astronomisches aus Babylon, p. 181).
[part
i.
all
dated
in
such and
the
(at first
under their
'
earlier
to the
as those
we
The
See Guide
Nimroud Central
B.C. e.g.
B.C.
B.C.
The
-
according to the
Catalogue, 93
Assyrian.
'
1.
Ni'sannu,
Airu,
'Sivanu,
^;-
....
'
(or
sacrifice of
'
'
"
righteousness
jT/irtr-jz'^/ ("
2.
3.
Tsivan,
/^^-.?-'^
.
Kas
("the
\
45-
twins").
6*/^ /f'/^/-7Z(!
Duzu, Abu,
Uhilu,
Tasritu,
. .
seed
").
^(5 rt^-^rtr("
. .
that
makes
fire").
6.
7.
8.
A7
bull-like founder?").
9.
10. 11.
12. 13.
Dharbitu, Sabahu,
....
.
. .
Can ganna very cloudy "). ^/j^^ (?',-/;^ ("the father of light "). ^j (!-(" abundance of rain ").
(" the
5<'-/f'z-7
Addaru,
("sowing of seed").
^""'^ f"^'""''^] "^ =''"g ")
1
Arakh-makru
("the"i
incidental month"),/
""'''''
c-
j-
/<ij
^
.1
Records of the
Past, vol.
i.
p. 166.
PART
I.]
CALENDAR
the
2000 B.C.
find
in
Strassmaier, and
we meet
in
them, and
in
other
months,
It
would
it
calendar,
worked
same way,
that held
As evidence
method
of counting the year, and of a method closely resembling, if not identical with, that used in the latest periods of Babylonian
history, the
importance and trustworthiness of these documents They were inscribed on soft clay
fire),
many
of
them
No
been made
in
them
is
translation of one of
the
Central Saloon,
others.
style of
Nimroud many
"No. 3. Tablet and outer case inscribed with a deed of partnership or brotherhood between Sini-Innanna and Iriba-Sin. "Tablet. Sini-Innanna and Iriba^-Sin made brotherhood; they took a judge for the ratification, and went down to the temple of the sun-god, and he answered the people thus in the temple of the sun-god They must give Arda-lustamar-Samas and Antu-lislimam, the property of Iraba-sin, and Ardu-ibsinan and Antu-am-anna-lamazi, the property of Sini-Innanna.' He proclaimed [also] in the temple of the sun-god and the moongod: 'Brother shall be kind to brother; brother shall not be evil towards, shall not injure, brother and brother shall not harbour any angry thought as to anything about which a brother has
'
:
disputed.'
the
name
of Innannaki, Utu,
Marduk,
[iart
i.
lonian originals.
originals
is
The
compilation of
many
B.C.
of these
of
Accad/
Hammurabi
[Kimta-rapastu] the
Here
follow the
on the outer case is much to the same purpose, and need not here be quoted the names of nine witnesses are appended to it. The Guide continues, after some other explanations, as follows
inscription
:
"The whole of the first paragraph (except a few ideographs) is in Semitic Babylonian. The invocation is in Akkadian. The list of witnesses,' again, is in Semitic Babylonian, and the date in Akkadian. The tablet is dated in the same way as the other documents of this class Month Adar of the year when Hammurabi the king made (images of) Innanna and Nana.'"
'
. . .
'
Sargon
I.
of
Accad was
of Semitic race.
the
Accadai (Accadians).
carried the
this fact
it
meaning of
is
From
the city of Accad, to which they gave their name. Their language contains few words for the productions of the almost tropical climate of Babylonia, but it shows familiarity with those
of higher latitudes. or
either
by peaceful
was established as ruler over the Accadians they were already a very highly civilized people. They possessed a literature of their own, which embraced a wide variety of subjects. The learning of the Accadians was highly esteemed
warlike
arts,
vA-RTi.]
CALENDAR
these
3800 B.C.
In
We
find
in
is
Nisan
as
(Accadian
Barzig-gar),
everywhere
is
appears
"the
first
month," and
distinctly stated
to be
As
early
as
the
year
1874,
Professor
Sayce
good reason
for sup-
sponded
page
and
161
of
his
Paper,
Accadian works. These works, down to the latest days of Babylonian power, were preserved and venerated, and many copies of them were made and preserved in public libraries in Babylonia and Assyria. The Accadian after Sargon's date gradually dropped out
religious
and
scientific
and became a " learned " language, holding amongst Babylonians and Assyrians much the same position as Latin and Greek amongst Europeans.
of general
use,
See Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archczology, 1874. Paper entitled. The Astronomy and Astrology of the Babylonians, Prof. Sayce, p. 258, W.A.I, iii. 60,
^
[fart
i.
Astrology of the
we
read
"
Now
He
meanings of the
Accadian
and
in
Semitic
month
which a reference
That the
potamia
were from
scarcely to be doubted.
in the British
We
find
on the
boundary stones
tions of
several
of their
and gems.
astrological
Again,
in the
old
works,
we
find
mention of the
Goat-fish "
Scorpion
" Gir-tab,"
and of
the
to
"approach
and "linger
it
in,"
may
they
repre-
PART
I.]
Out
many
As
to
we may
guess.
For
instance,
when
tion
it is
said "
Mercury^ lingered
that
in the constella-
Gula,"
we may guess
in
"
Gula represents
Strass-
the
Epping and
Gu."
From
mapped
drawn
sions
all
we
orather
had been
up,
(at least)
of these divi-
corresponded exactly
celestial globes.
to
those
now
repre-
sented on
The
fessor
forward^
to
Pro-
Accadian
months
of
corresponded
the
the
twelve
constellations
Zodiac,
in
trace
resemblance
of the
some
in
between
the
name
month
not in
itself
improbable.
Infra, p. 47, note.
10
[part
i.
followinsf
is
in
which
this
resemblance
very striking
sacrifice
of right-
eousness
Aries.
bull"),
month
month,
(sometimes
called)
Kas
(" the
Twins"), Gemini.
6th
I
Ki
Gingir-na
("the
errand
of
star"), Virgo.
We
know from
the
the
months and
and sequence
research
if
further
should
in
the
time,
fact
that
they so
corresponded
Sargon's
then as
all
we
find
throughout
these
ages
year,"
it
will
necessarily
and Assyrian
Ours
is
is
to say, accordino-
PART
I.]
amended by Pope
and
its
Gregory)
it is
of
the
ecliptic,
i.e.
the
solstices
equinoxes.
The
falls
summer
solstice
about the
St
23rd of September.
But
(as
was a sidereal
constant
sions of the
constellations
and
its
months maintained a
they are called, the
relation
to the
or,
ecliptic,
of the
closely
Zodiac.
as
Nisan always
cor-
responded
to
(as
a lunar month
might)
the
constellation Aries
it
Airu
which
and so on
The
equinoctial
points
are,
however,
always,
their position
ecliptic.
still
amongst the
The months,
in the
which
in
second
century
B.C.,
12
[part
i.
as
different ages
We
find
in
Nisan,
or
and
this
seems a more
we
Hammurabi's
two
time (2,200
B.C.)
and
in
months
before the
equinox,
we
surprised and
to the
seasons
the
of
and most
easily
observed divisions
the ecliptic.
It
is
difScult to
who
twelve
parts,
calendar
as
resisted
all
the
it
imagine that such astronomers should have taken no note of the four prominent divi-
PLATE
FIG.
1.
I.
"""""'flSTwiNTEB
MONTH
FIG. 2.
.#/
'*'"'AfCF,BSTSIRIN0or1^
The
and last months of the Accadian, months of the Gregorian, tropical, year
first
sidereal, year,
:
at 6,000 B.C.
PART
I.]
B.C.
13
i.e.
sions
year
and
of
the
ecliptic,
the
solstices
There
anomaly,
if
this
or,
there
is
a supposition which,
when
first
they drew up
mighty scheme.
may
in
was already
Sargon's time a
institution,
had been
originally
much
when
6,000
when
first
month
first
was the
first
I., fig.
a
the
season equally
to hold the
'
Under
this
Proceedings
this
a corroboration of
of the opinion
month names
in the
The
twelfth
month
14
[part
i.
supposition,
would
the
no
longer
be
difficult
to
imagine
why
ancient
Accadian astronomers
first
constellation
first
discredit
on
the
early
sown in many latitudes in spring, and also in winter "Sowing of seed" might therefore describe a month at
:
sowing."
This
epithet
dark,
or midwinter
The thirteenth month in a luni-solar year, whose beginning should be bound to the vernal equinox, must always cover some of the concluding days of March and some of the first days of April
and those days are certainly much lighter, not darker than those of the preceding month, covering parts of February and March,
whereas, the thirteenth intercalary
month
in a luni-solar year,
whose
beginning should be bound to the winter solstice, must always cover the concluding days of December and those at the beginning of January ; and might well be distinguished by the epithet dark, not only from the days of the preceding month, but indeed
I., figs,
i, 2.)
tends to confirm the already formed opinion of scholars, that the Accadians were not indigenous to Babylonia, but had descended
it from more northern latitudes, where darkness is a more marked concomitant of winter than in the nearly tropical lati-
into
tude of Babylonia.
PARTI.]
15
we
amongst the
stars,
and
that,
not knowing
in
the
the
to the
solstice.
As
stars
of Aries
month
in the
winter month.
Still,
the
originators
sway
the
still
made
for counting
and Bar
zig-gar, or
month
in
To
taking.
lished calendar
we know,
secular
not a
trifling
under-
Even on
encounters
reform
strong
But
the
also
civil, it
was
a religious, institution.
Its
origin
was attributed
"
[part
i.
to the Creator,
is
it
He
^
fixed three
stars
(or
groups of
stars).
"
From
the day
when
The
up
for
The
Illumina-
tion of Bel,"^
tury
"
B.C., all
At
the
command
*
my Lord
it
Bel and
my Lady
suppose,
Beltis, a decree."
Thus
was,
we may
calendar
continued unchanged
throughout
all
the
changing ages.
1
Records of tlie Past. New series. Vol. i. p. 145. In modern works we find the terms "useless," "fanciful,"
and "inconvenient," applied to the Zodiac and its constellations; and for regulating a tropical year the constellations af-e " useless and "inconvenient," but the theory that the reckoning of the year and all its religious festivals depended on the observance of the Zodiacal star-groups, would help to account for the widely spread veneration in which they were held throughout so many ages and by so many nations.
^
Transactions of the
150,
151.
Society
of Biblical
.Irchceology,
1874,
pp.
*
Epping
6 1.
and
Strassmaier,
Astronomisches
aus
Babylon,
p.
{Auf
Geheiss von
Bel
E?ttscke idling.)
PART
I.]
EQUINOX
duringall
IN ARIES 200
the
B.C.
17
But
solstice
moved on
century
the
1
steadily
through
almost a quarter of
ecliptic,^
and
in the
second
where
the great
This moving of the equinoctial point through a quarter of circle may perhaps explain the tradition to which Syncellus twice alludes, once when he states that Eusebius was
aware of the Greek opinion that many ages, or rather myriads of years had passed since the creation of the world, during ihe mythical retrograde movement of the Zodiac, from the beginning of Aries, and its return again to the same point {Chronographia, p. 17.) And again at p. 52, he refers to "the return of the Zodiac to its original position, according to the stories of the Greeks and
from one point back again minute of the first division of the equinoctial sign of the Zodiac, which is called K/oibs (Aries) by them, as has been stated in the Genica of Hermes and in the Cyrannid books." He goes on to say that this is the ground of the chronological
Egyptians, that
is
to the
same
point,
which
is
the
first
Jean Silvain
ning of which
Bailly,
is
point of
may have
prevailed amongst
the Indians and other ancient nations to account for the pre-
to Aries.
He
says
pourquoi
11 est
ont-ils
choisi
cette
constellation
pour
la
evident que c'est une affaire de pr^jug^ et de superstition ; le choix du premier point dans un cercle est arbitraire. lis auront ^te d^cid^s par quelque ancienne tradition, telle par example que celle que Muradi rapporte d'apres Albumassar et deux anciens livres egyptiens, oil on lisoit que le monde avoit ^t^
[part
i.
the
had
been
when
the
first
the
calendar-makers
had
"fixed"
constellations
(See Plate
contained
I.,
fig.
2.)
The
these
I.
:
propositions
in
this
Paper are
as a sidereal
year.
II.
calendar was
first
thought
B.C.
The
proposition
is
renouvelle apres le deluge lorsque le soleil ^toit au 1 du holier, D'Herbelot ne parle regulus etant dans le colure des solstices. mais il dit que selon Albumassar les sept point de rdgulus planetes etoient en conjonction au premier point du holier lors de la creation du monde. Cette tradition, sans doute fabuleuse, qui venoit des memes prejug^s que celle de Berose, etoit asiatique, Elle a pu suffire, ou telle autre du meme genre, pour fonder la preference que les brames, ou les anciens en general, ont donnee
;
la constellation
du
belier,
en I'etablissant
la
premiere de
leur
lis ont cru que ce point du zodiaque etoit una zodiaque. source de renouvellement, et ils ont dit que le zodiaque et I'ann^e se renouvelloient au meme point ou le monde s'dtoit (Bailly, Histoire de F Astronomic Ancienne, pp. 482, regenere."
483-)
PART
I.]
ARIES,
LEADER OF THE
many
SIGNS
19
very early
sun was
in
conjuncthe
first
holding
period.
But even
second,
it
if
the
first
proposition
is
is
granted, the
must be confessed,
only an opinion
and
in the calendar,
in
what would
may seem
that too
a guess
desire
but where
there
so as
much
yet
that
we
the
to
know, and so
the
early
little
absolutely
known
of
history
of astronomy,
is
temptation to
great.
It is to their earliest
that
the
ancient
invention
of
astronomy,
20
also,
[part
i.
teachers of the
Modern astronomers
terms
"
often
speak
in
general
in
of
their
science
in
as
having existed
"prehistoric times."
it
But
rise,
took
last
its
are
still
unanswered.
During
the
hundred
have
Some few
Jean
writers (and
Bailly,
Silvain
scholar and an
for the view
astronomy
had
been
for
closely
observed,
and
scientific
methods
Bailly
adopted.
speaks of
une astronomic
per-
met with
in
1
possession
of the
I.
civilized
2,
races of
Antiquitates Judaica,
3.
PART
I.]
ANTEDILUVIAN ASTRONOMY
21
antiquity.
He
may seem
B.C.,
a bold suggestion
to
place
the
as
formation of the
6,000
a date exceeding as
does by 2,000
man and
following
the
his expulsion
from
Eden.
It
was
in
Archbishop
Usher's
calculations that
date
it
of 4,004
was
in
adopted
still
remains,
difficulty of
determin-
Bible
history
"
it is
has always
been
felt to
quite possible
for
to believe that
years, as required
"the
Bishop of Ely.
^
Holy
Bible, with
Commentary, edited by
F. C.
The
An
Present
22
It will
[part
i.
a true
To
Eden
or to their
immediate descendants
fall,
but
Printed by
the
limits
of ancient history, as
it
has
last
fifty
years,
many
history of
P.
higher date than Archbishop Usher's 4,004 years for the Adam's race on earth.
Ixv.
et seq.
"So
that
on a strict view and due examinaand the records that have been
. .
.
those of the Jews, exclusive of their divine authority, will evidently appear to be the most certain and authentick. However it must be confessed that there is no certain uniformity in the
Jewish computation, and that the several copies of their records, viz., the Hebrew, Samaritan Pentateuch, and Septuagint differ very much from one another. This variety of computations hath left room for Chronologers to enlarge or contract the space of time betwixt the flood and the birth of Christ, by adhering to one copy rather than another or by rejecting or retaining the whole numbers, or the particulars, just as it suited their humour of making the Sacred History agree with the Prophane or otherwise of reducing the Prophane to the Sacred, and as the disagreement among the heathen writers is great also, and every author hath followed the historian he liked best, hence a wide difference
. . .
PART
I.]
"
EVIL;'
23
rather
may open up for us fresh lines of thought, when we read of that transgression in which the
Table of the years of the world to the birth of Christ, according to the computations of several chronologers.
Alphonsus, King of Castile, The same, in Strauchius Onuphrius Panvinius Suidas
Lactantius, Philastrius
in Muller's
Tables
The author
months
II
March 1893]
of
the
In
the
the
January number
Proceedings
for
of
Society
of Biblical Archcsology
last year,
under the
title
pro-
The
Accadian
year
was
counted
as
sidereal year.
II.
The Accadian
calendar was
first
thought
The
fact
that
the
sun's
entry
into
the
con-
stellation Aries
many millenniums
year,
was
and the
cided
about
relied
6,000
to
B.C.
with the
the
winter
solstice,
was
on
support
probability
of the
tART
I.]
2$
was
first
drawn
up.
we now
part of the
nations
in
these
nations,
to
happened
observe
and
mark out
the
sun's
same
date,
or
we must suppose
and knowledge of
the
some one
The Brahmins
for the science of
astronomy
in their country,
and
their observations
to date
back
the the
to the fourth
The names
are,
of
us in
so
to speak,
we use
at the
present day
Zodiac.
when we speak
Many
26
[part
i.
ledge of the twelve-fold division of the Zodiac penetrate into that country.
names
in
India
^
at
as
early
period
as
in
any other
country."
Jean Silvain
antiquity
Bailly,
whose opinions
as to the
of the
of
Zodiac
is
writes as follows
^
"
V.
p. 90.
initial
The
point of the
Hindu Zodiac
is
about
9^ degrees to the west of the boundary line of the constellation Aries, as it is drawn on our celestial globes. One foot of Aries,
however, extends beyond the boundary line, and touches a line drawn through the initial point of the Hindu Zodiac and the poles of the ecliptic. At page 132, the question of the date of the fixation of this initial point is discussed, and a high antiquity for it is claimed. There are many considerations which may lead us to the opinion that not only in India, but amongst the ancients
generally, the
first
Hindu
the
initial
point,
degree of the constellation coincided with the and not with the boundary line of the conB.C.,
stellation, as
first
colures,
Greek and Latin authors, writing in the solstitial and equinoctial as being "at the eighth degree of the Zodiac," and these
it is
now drawn.
century
speak of
PART
1.]
27
"
Mais pourquoi
la
pour
affaire
du
lis
premiere ? II est evident que de prejuge et de superstition premier point dans un cercle est auront ete decides par quelque
une
choix
arbitraire.
ancienne
tradition."
same date as
in conflict
with him on
many
in
was
also struck
by the choice of
same inconby
spicuous
point
not only
by the Brahmins of
He
further explains
initial
is
that
point by the
On
choice
the
to
beginning
statements,
perplexity
Dupuis
relied
caused modern commentators much Handbuch der Klassischen Alterthumsivissenschaft ; Zeitrechnung der Griechen und Jidmer, Unger), may be easily explained, if we realize that they, in all hkelihood, counted the degrees of the Zodiac from the same initial point as that in use amongst Hindu astronomers, which in the first century b.c.
which have
(see
28
[fart
i.
support his
of
the
nations.
At the end of
his work,
in
;
Mdmoire Explicatif
a diagram several
some divided
by
a
into
some
into
He
represents
these
which
quarters
concentric
Zodiacs,
and
he observes as follows
remarque d'abord, que ces divers systemes lunaires, tires de I'Astronomie de dififerens peuples, s'accordent tous a placer dans les cases correspondantes a-peu-pres les
s'en assurer,
la
"
On
memes
etoiles.
II suffit,
pour
meme
On
remarque aussi
ont pris
tous,
excepte
initial
memes
etoiles,
pour point
de
de
la tete
du
Belier.
initial
Les dans
les
du
la
ciel
pieds de
Vierge
4).
nations
point
of the
of the
first
division
of Aries as
the
initial
PART
I.]
ARIES
MARKED A SEASON
29
B.C.,
for a
year beginning at
mUtmin equinox;
in this
or
for
a calendar, as suggested
Paper, drawn up
about 6,000
at
B.C.,
the
winter
and
it
may be
while
claimed
that
the facts
brought to
light
by the study of
greatly
the
ancient
Accadian
calendar,
strengthening the ground for Dupuis' opinion concerning the early acceptance by
stars of Aries as a
many
in
nations of the
mark
for the
in prehistoric times,
first
seem more
month
autumn
equinox.
out of date
for
the archaeological
have
suc-
confirmation
in
the
results
of
modern
re-
searches,
their theories
may
well be disregarded.
30
[part
i.
But
seems
to
me
to
that
many
of
of their
theories
Turninof
first
some
the
facts
which
archaeology has
taught us
Egyptians,
it
will
be interesting to see
there are
in their
astronomy or mythology of
connexion
moon through
a matter
still
in
scholars.
It
is,
and
that
their
astronomy
and
mythology
were
very
closely
Middle Empire,
year were not
it
seems,
months
lunar
in
the
civil
counted
months,
but as
months of
as
thirty
days
each.
not counted
a sidereal
year, but as
twelve months
days
with
five
days
PART
I.]
TWO CALENDARS
at
IN
EGYPT
31
added
bring up the
number
to three
hundred and
to the
sixty-five days.
No
attention
was paid
Mr
the
Griffiths
has remarked
in
the
number of
Biblical
Proceedings
of
the
Society
of
Archesology for
for
March
suggest
month
I
points to
an originally
that
month,
the
and
first
w^ould
the
star
under
a
crescent
seems
to
point
also
i.e.,
to
month
originally counted
sidereally,
dependent upon
in
the
conjunction
of the
sun and
moon ecliptic. As
some
a matter
civil
of
fact,
the Egyptians
made use
not only of a
and
it
is
in this sidereal
and
sidereal.
these
so
far
as
to
reference
Aries seems
to
be
discernible.
32
[part
i.
The agricultural importance of the season of the summer solstice in Egypt, coinciding as it does with the rising of the Nile, may have induced calendarmakers
at
some very
make
it
begin at the
solstice
the
season,
contended
B.C.
in
6,000
by astronomers
of
more
northern
Egypt
as the starting-point of
of a year sidereally
But
if
we
Ram,
as
it is
Egyptian symbolism.
triad
Amen,
the
great
sometimes represented
always
him,
in
is
with
the
sun,
i.e.
to
Amen-Ra,
gigantic
of
also
ram-headed
as
and
of
this
is
the
case
regards
temple
Chons
the
PART
I.]
33
moon-god
at right angles,
and
in close proximity,
to the great
temple of Amen-Ra.
tell
Scholars
us that
triad
Horus,
Isis,
and
Osiris,
the
and
have
it
Memphian
symbolized
other
the diurnal
bodies,
motion of the
sun and
heavenly
Theban
of those
Chons,
should
course
originally
annual
constellations
for the
of the Zodiac.
pro-
minence of the
of this triad
in
Ram
in
the
first
Ram, which,
have argued,
many
countries,
and possibly
in
Egypt
also,
marked the
prayer to
Amen
translated
by G. Maspero
Proceedings
^
;
in the April
number
for
1891
of the
from
this
Amen
is
implored
real
bring the
into
If
seasons of the
1
Amen
dont
represented
du
"
II
ne
me
donner
1-5),
la traduction suivie
texte
(Papyrus Anastasi,
p. 10.
je viens d'expliquer le
sens et le developpement littdraire. "Viens a moi, Amon, me delivrer de I'annee facheuse, oii le dieu Shou (Shou dtait, a I'^poque des Ramessides et plus tard, le dieu du soleil solstitial, du soleil d'et^, comme Brugsch I'a
34
sidereally
[part
i.
the
yearly
course of
The
great
as
temple
to
Amen-Ra
stated
at
Thebes,
through
oriented
approached,
has been
above,
is
an avenue
of
ram-headed
sphinxes,
to the setting
summer
opinion
in
solstice,
and
this
strengthens
to
the
that
Amen
its
was
considered
be a god
of
is
over
the
course
It
the
true
and
this
right
measurement.
of his
light
orientation
temple precluded
the
possibility
of
the
from
any
star
of the
constellation
;
Aries
it
but
is
ingtjnieusement) ne se leve plus, ou vient I'hiver oil les mois s'en vent hors leur place, ou les heures se brouillent, ou les grands t'appellent, 6 Anion, ou les petits te cherchent, ou ceux meme qui sont encore dans les bras de leur Amon trouve Donne les souffles nourrice, ceux-la (crient)
fort
ou
'
'
Amon
les
ecoute,
;
agr^ables
la palette
il
le sain
les
souffles
d'etre
comme
I'aile
du vautour, comme
chargee des discours des Esprits pour les bergers dans champs, pour les laveurs sur la berge, pour les garde-chasse qui sortent au territoire des gazelles afin de lacer (le gibier)."
M. Maspero
and
difficult to
decipher or to understand.
"
35
PART
I.]
feast-day of
Amen
as one presiding over the most propitious season of the year, and also recall the sidereal connexion
of the
god of
the
At
pp.
277 and
278
of Egypt,
ii.,
Descriptive,
Historical,
and
Picturesque, vol.
figures
in
Ebers, having
referred to
some
of a
Memnonium
II.,
the
Nekropolis erected by
Rameses
Temple
of Karnak, observes
"
Of
these figures
the
inscription
says
As
'
filled
with
the
add
to the joy
the father.'
"These words
Amon
was brought
forth
7,6
[part
i.
house of Seti received the procession with the splendid bark Sam, the most sacred of all the vessels that were preserved in the temple of
The
Karnak
borne
first to
the
Memnonium
the
who strewed
way with
sand.
The
on the great sacred lake of which traces may still be seen to the extreme south of the Nekropolis. " The Egyptian religion prescribed to all its
tombs of their dead and bring offerings, in grateful remembrance of their parents and forefathers and as, day after day, millions of suns had gone to rest as men do behind the realm of tombs in the Libyan hills, the god himself was brought to do honour to his departed ancestry, and to sacrifice to them."
followers that they should visit the
;
The
closely
Egypt
the
II.
coincides very
solstice.
with
date
the
of
season
of
summer
date
At
the
Rameses
on
not
yet
unanimously agreed
by
scholars,
but
which
B.C.
may
in
the sun
the
summer
solstice
II.),
was
and
constellation
Cancer (see
Plate
CO ^ u .n ^ "> ^ CO
"J
-s
(J
i;rSS
p"'
,..'''
*m
-^
OT tt to tM tM
.^
IVJ
QC
\rriz^
So"" u. I O I- e
z^
V) U.
O
ro
oS
e\j
hi^
-^
::;
<^-
<
-^g
H
Ah
>,t*
'
lis
5:2
^1^
a.
a O
: fc
, '
.'V-
o a.
O UJ
L
1-<L
PART
I.]
AMEN AND
later
its
ARIES
37
two months
posed
point
few degrees to the west of a point exactly opto the first stars of Aries
and
to the initial
of
the
Indian
Zodiac.
On
the
evening,
therefore,
of the
of the
inundation,
when
hills,
the sun
to
allow
of
them
show
their
light,
the
first
stars
Aries
rose
horizon,
and
at
meridian.
Thus
of the of
at
the
season
of
all
the
year,
when
statue
god
his
Amen
dark
the
was,
we
learn,
brought
in
out
temple shrine
Nekropolis,
and carried
procession
to
from whence
the
constellation
walls
and
hidden
fully
by
;
obstructing
visible
and there
to "
sacrifice offered
Amon
But
stand
'
it
may
be
said
that
we should underthe
"the
second
is
month
of
inundation"
stars in
When
the sun
"
38 to refer
[part
i.
the
second
counted
month of the
from
the
Egyptian
sidereal
(fixed)
Sirius.
year
the
ist
Thoth
of
and
marked
the
by
hehacal
rising
At
date of
of this
sidereal
year
fell,
may be
the
proved, a
Plate
II.),
summer
29th
solstice (see
and
of
still
on
the
of
second
Aries
month
might
its
this
sidereal
be seen rising
first
the
east
no
longer
only
stars,
becoming
brightest
and
and ^
at
about
midnight
culminated
the
its
Arietis,
on
the of
meridian.
Whether,
"
therefore,
at
" Feast
the
Valley
was
of
the
held
the
end
of
or
the
of
second
the
stars
month
of
actual
inundation,
sidereal
its
second
month
of
the
year,
the
Aries
presided
over
" nocturnal
solemnities.
Some
festivals
all
Egyptian
and the
course
that
in
the
much
they were
bound
to
the
vagtie
If this
was indeed
PART
so,
I.]
39
I.
it
difficult
to
or
Rameses
could
festival
in question
as in
for
though
Seti,
part
of that
of
Rameses, the
and
(see
years
II.),
coincided
more
apart
or
less
Plate
Rameses they
ist
were already so
(vague)
solstice,
fell,
that
the
Thoth
summer
and therehave
fore
of
Aries would
not
of
them
have
culminated
on
the
meridian
at
midnight.
If
now we
unlike
turn
at
to
Amen-Ra
is
Aboo
to
we may observe
at
that,
it
that
the
same god
definite
Karnak,
of the
not
oriented
rising
to
any
season
it
year.
The
now,
and
Holy
of Holies
day
somewhat
more
than
two
months
distant
40
[part
i.
and somewhat
less
than
namely,
February
(Gregorian)/
(1893 a.d.)
is,
at the
;
season named,
if
constellation
to
Aquarius
but
we
calculate
back
1,100
date
anywhere
find
between
(see
1,400
III.)
and
that
to
B.C.,
we
shall
II.
Plate
this
when
1
Rameses
was fortunate
to
dedicated
temple
" I
visit
in seeing
my
Aboo
Simbel.
The
it
dedicated to
is
Amen-Ra,
both
halls
the sun-god,
beam
of light through
it
falls
on the shrine
are
itself in
the very
Holy
of
Holies.
Many
theories
took his instruments, and we all went up to the temple before The great hall, with its dawn. It was the 26th February.
eight Osiride pillars, was
wrapped
shrine.
in semi-darkness.
Still
darker
hall
and
Behind the
altar sat
the four
deified.
Amen, Horus,
Ptah, and
rosy
Rameses
flush
;
himself,
now
All
the
then
that
paled,
it
and
grew,
the sky.
with a sudden joyous rush, the sun swung up over the low ridge of hill, and in an instant, like an arrow from the bow of Phoebus Apollo, one level shaft of light pierced
the great hall and
fell
in living
glory straight
upon the
Gazette,
shrine
itself" A.
April,
F.
[Extract
from the
Pall Mall
20th
1892.]
-^
iM
a. LJ
s z u
o
1^;
,
H 2 5
'if
Pt-'
^^V'y>
Pi
a u
6.^i'
Oh
S
<U
u
<
i^l
Z N
^l!t
z u o h z
tn a.
o s
o
:
^r^^
I-
'
bo
.S
L.
q:
hH
SV
PARTI.]
41 into
Amen-Ra,
shrine of
when
at
first
it
penetrated
the
in
temple
the
this
conjunction with
tion
of the
it
constella-
Aries,
and
to
fact
must,
would
put
seem,
encourage us
forward
II.
to
honour that
constellation
in
god Amen.
It
indications
in
the
mythology
of
and
in
the
to
history
of
the
Egyptians,
Aries,
honour
paid
the
constellation
records
I
of
antiquity,
now
it
will,
believe,
become evident
also
all
the
great civilized
nations
of the
East,
had
when
the sun
such
which
is
used by the
Hindus
India to
this
present day.
If
will
we
it
be
difficult
method of
involving, as
42
[part
i.
fanciful
at
should
Whether
bequeathed
is still
race of
men
not
"
knowledge
to their
many
descendants,
an
open question.
Scholars have
unanimously
seniority in civilization to
any
we
elect to
common
If,
stock,
then,
incorporated
of the
as
mythologies a knowledge
first
Zodiac, and
of the
degree of Aries
its initial
solstice
and under
6,000
B.C.
becomes a foothold
for the
chronology of
ancient history.
the
We should
common
men graced
with
high intellectual
gifts
men
PART
I.]
ZODIAC PREHISTORIC
all
43
to
this
the ages
Ill
^*
ist
and 2nd
cent.
translated
constellations
stantly referred
abbreviated forms
1.
in
][Ey
{ku{sarikku))
aries.
2.
j^y {te{mennu))
]f-
=
= = = = = = = = =
taurus.
3.
4.
>^ (masu)
{jpulukku)
gemini.
cancer.
leo.
-^K,
5.
6.
7.
{aril)
(seriT)
JEJ"*
virgo.
libra.
^\ {zibanitu)
**
rif:
8.
9.
^^
(fa)
{aqrabu)
scorpio.
arcitenens.
10.
J^
jJ^J (enzu)
caper.
11.
JJ^i^
(gu)
amphora
pisces.
[aquarius].
12
1
p. 351.
PART
I.]
MEANING OF GU UNCERTAIN
in
45
Also
Epping-
and
Strassmaier's
work,
Astronornisches
aus
des
Babylon,
Die
and
Zeichen
Thierkreises,
Stei^ne,
170,
175,
171,
Namen
der
pp.
in
174,
the
twelve abbreviations
met with
From
a study of the
to,
list
here given
it
and of
has been
we
learn that
for
completed
we know them,
of the
are easily to be
As
sign
regards other
that of
abbreviations,
and
amongst them
^^
it
(Amphora
;
or Aquarius),
no termination has
been suggested
p.
171:
" Gu
Epping
thus
and of
ist
sonst
ausschliesslich
nur
dis-
als
Silbenzeichen gu bekannt";
and Jensen,
cussing
list,
and
of the
Strassmaier's
constellation
writes
abbreviation
Gu
for
'
the
eleventh
constellation:^
^
"Ob Gu
p.
einen
Was-
Kosmo logic
der Babylonier,
314.
46
sereimer,'
nicht.
'
ELEVENTH CONSTELLATION
[part
i.
As
In
astrological
in
translated
by Professor Sayce
his
Paper,
The Astronomy
and Astrology of the Babylonians} pp. 189, 190, " the star of Gula" is mentioned. The first syllable of this word is composed of the same cuneiform
group
as that
first
B.C.
to.
But
this fact, if
stood alone,
point
late
not
be
enough
to
do more than
of
possible
identification
Gu
in
the
tablets with
Gula
the
of
many
mio-ht
have begun
We
find,
at
Professor
Sayce's Paper,
III.
sentence translated
from W.A.I.,
1
57,
:
iii.,
February 1874.
PART
I.]
GU=GULA=BAU
Gula
lingers."
47
None
of
known
to the
with
truth
"lingering"
The
we must
therefore assume,
was
This restriction
it
conclusion to arrive
is
at,
that the
Zodiacal
for the
Gu
an abbreviation
works.
As
known
that
to
mythological
reason
for
the
choice
us as Aquarius,
we
find
it
in
the fact
the god-
Gula appears
as another
(or
name
for
dess
we adopt
this
identification of the
star or
constellation
constellation, or
it
some
will
throw light
Strassmaier,
Or,
rather,
"Mercury."
Babylon,
p.
See
112
Epping
et seq.
p.
and
i,
Astronomisches
2
aiis
Maspero,
Dawn
of Civilization,
672, notes
2.
48
ELEVENTH CONSTELLATION
[part
r.
monuments
Lagash).
find
at Telloh (the
modern name of
mound which
city of
We
as
deities
especially worshipped at
those
who
in
held
the
contem-
poraneously
in the
the Accadian,
and
at a later time
Babylonian Pantheon.
consort,"
beloved
the
goddess
honours.
Lagash the
highest
On
one of the
statues of Gudea,
To
is
Lagash,
"
who has
consecrated to Ningirsu.
For Ningirsu, his lord, he has built the temple of Ekhud, the tower in stages, from the summit of which Ningirsu grants him a happy lot. " Besides the offerings which Gudea made of his free will to Ningirsu and to the goddess Bau, daughter of Anna, his beloved consort, he has made others to his god Ningiszida.
1
Ofi
PART
I.]
NINIB
AND BAU
49
That year he had a block of rare stone brought from the country of Magan he had it carved into a
"
;
statue of himself
"
On
:
day of the festival of Bau, on which offerings were made one calf, one fat sheep, three lambs, six full grown sheep, two rams, seven pat of dates, seven sab of cream, seven palm buds. " Such were the offerings made to the goddess Bau in the ancient temple on that day."
Ningirsu, the god
so
highly exalted
in
this
and
in
mounds
of
Telloh
has been
god Ninib^ of
the Babylonians.
vails as to
Much
god Ninib.
Jensen admits that the generally received opinion
as to Ninib sun."^
is
that he represents
the
"southern
Many
of Jen-
sen's
possibility
of Ninib
Maspero,
Dawn
460.
so
ELEVENTH CONSTELLATION
the
[part
i.
representing
the
mid-day sun
though
in
over, storm,
The sun
southern
may
well be described
if
we
think
may more
fitly in
winter solstice.
And
if
we so understand
the ex-
At mid-winter
at
is
solstice the
sun
at the
summer
solstice.
was
PART
I.]
WINTER SOLSTICE
IN
AQUARIUS
if
51
the
god
we understand
sense as the
astronomical
or
more
strictly
sun,
it
= Ninib's)
"be-
Speaking
B.C.,
in
to 2,000
when
its
the sun
was
which
constellation, or
some one
called
of
stars,
was,
by the Babylonian
name
for Bau.
rulers of
fell
between 4,000
associated
that
B.C.,
and 2,000
together
should have
so
;
often
Ningirsu
and
is
Bau
and
further,
festival in
beneficent deity presiding in conjunction with Ningirsu over the revolving years.
The
precession
52
sarily
in
ELEVENTH CONSTELLATION
the
[part
i.
course of ages
introduce confusion
into all ritual
and
and
From
in
2,000
B.C.
down
to the
beginning of our
era,
when
the inhabitants of
year's festival at
Lagash
the
still
new
winter
Bau
= Gula = Aquarius)
over
it.
we
the
in
especial
paid
to
Bau = Gula,
to
in
Lagash
her
later times.
As
later
to
Ninib,
we know
that
at
Gudea's
in
date in the
him by the
early rulers
This difference
in
PART
I.]
53
According
of
The Standard
of
Astrological Work,
compilation
the
which
e.g.,
is
generally attributed to
date
3,800
and
many
in
other tablets,
Babylon began
name
At Gudea's
Nisan,
if
it
about 2,900
B.C.,
the
ist of
was
entry
into Aries,
must have
further
from the
to the
equinoctial point.
any
later
date,
solstice,
state,
and afterwards
highly honoured as
his
Lagash, and
why he and
to as
consort
Bau
= Gula)
54
ELEVENTH CONSTELLATION
deities
[part
i.
the
year.
beginning of the
In a
drew attention
Accadian calendar.
first
It
was
degree
as
the
initial
point
of the
Zodiac was
made when
B.C.
that
constellation,
i.e.
about 6,000
If that
suggestion, and
the
cerning
accepted,
the
it
new
will
year's
festival
Lagash
that
are the
be
easy to
imagine
sort of effort to
in
may be
In
elsewhere.
to
the
originally
star-mark
for
the
year,
and
made
it
therefore by degrees
century
B.C.
coincided
spring equinox.
In Lagash, on the contrary, the calendar makers
1
January 1S92, V.
p. 13.
PART
I.]
RIVAL CALENDARS
55
and made
it
was held
in
IV
THE MEDIAN CALENDAR AND THE CONSTELLATION TAURUS
[Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical
Archceolog)',
June 1897]
In
former
number^
of
these
I
Proceedings
believed to be the
the
in-
calendar of the
to
the
originally
star-mark
the
for
the
year,
and
[the
made
it
begin with
;
sun's
entry
into
constellation] Aries
the winter
and
in
the
first
coincided very
"In Lagash, on
makers clung
56
the
contrary,
the
calendar
season
to
the originally
'
established
V.
p. 54.
PART
I.]
EQUINOX
year,
;
IN
it
TAURUS
begin
at
57
of
the
and
made
the
winter
by degrees the beginning of their year moved away from the constellation Aries, and in Gudea's time [about 2,900 B.C.] the new year's festival was held in honour of the goddess Bau = Gula = Aquarius,"
solstice
therefore
now
used,
;
desire to
draw attention
to
to the
Median
from
or
in
calendar,
that
which
as
appears
have
in
differed
above suggested,
Accad
Lagash
Accad
nor was
as
it
the
solstice
in
Lagash.
The beginning
to the
season
to
ing true
season,
followed
no
star-mark.
The
that
great importance,
however,
of Tauric
sym-
when
the equinoctial
year was
first established
Astronomy teaches us
in
that
was the
to
speaking
B,C.
2,000
THE MEDIAN CALENDAR
It
is
58
[part
i.
true that
of the existence of a
we
possess
the
Babylonian
standard
astrological
works
re-
sidereal
Accadian
the
calendar. repre-
We
have,
however,
of the
among
modern
a
sentatives
distinctive
Medes, the
Persians,
very
the
Nowroose, or the
of the
new year
was of fabulous
"The
St
of March,
the
impatiently antici-
roose,
or that of the
its
commencement of
is
the
Nownew
year; and
institution
and the fragments yet preserved of its early native historians, was the sixth in descent from Noah, and the fourth sovereign of Persia, of the race of Kaiomurs, the grandson of Noah. But to return to the feast of the Nowroose. It is acknowledged to have been celeof the country,
. . .
PART
I.]
PERSIAN NOWROOSE
;
59
dent of whatever religions reigned there whether the simple worship of the One Great Being, or under the successive rites of Magian, Pagan, or
Mahomedan
institutions."
{Travels, vol.
i.
p.
316.)
adhered
to
by the Percele-
brate
and
for
many
lunar
the
Mahomedan
year.
easy to see
how
roose
differs
NowMahomedan
the
anniversaries
of about
anniversaries
circuit
which
in
course
thirty-two
make a complete
difference,
The
exists
all
though
the
not
marked,
which
between
soli-lunar
purely
Nowroose,
the
and
festivals,
such as those of
of.
Babylast,
These
The
is
an
"immoveable"
sprmg equmox.
festival
fixed
to
the
day of the
6o
[part
i.
Nowroose would,
but historical
certainly
under
the
and
almost with
calendar and
in
fes-
manner
;
sur-
rounding nations
their years
lunar,
were not
which as
was
Zend Avesta
Appendix
C,
and
in
:
Appendix D,
p.
37,
we read
of the
Persian years
"
L'annde
etait divisee
que dans
I'Avesta
les textes
post-avest^ens
mais
il
y a dans
meme
PART
I.]
6i
La
en deux saisons, 6t et hiver I'et^, hama, qui comprend les sept premiers mois (du i" Farvardin au 30 Mihr, soit du 21 mars au 16 octobre).
.
ment pour
le
rituel,
les pratiques,
The worship
was introduced
fall
of the
Persian
sun-god Mithras
into
Rome
of the Republic.
How
worship differed
from that
we need
been,
not inquire
it
however changed
it
may have
The worship of Mithras, spite of much opposition, gained many followers Rome. The birthday of the sun-god was kept
or a
Median
source.
at
the
Cumont,
in the first
Monuments figuris
relatifs
aux
"
honour of the birthday of the god, observes as follows certaines raisons de croire que les equinoxes etaient aussi des jours feries ou I'on inaugurait par quelque salutation le Les initiations avaient lieu de preretour des Saisons divinisees. ," ference vers le debut du printemps, en mars ou en avril.
festival in
Nous avons
62
[part
i.
and were
Roman
festivals.
Let us now turn our attention to the Tauric symbolism so closely connected with Mithraic obser-
vances
in
Rome.
in
AthencBum thus describes a Discovery was made during some excavations at Ostia of a handsome house containing among its various rooms a mithr(Bum. Into the kitchen opens a narrow and tortuous passage, from which by a small half-concealed stairwriter
the
}
Roman Mithraeum
"
is
reached
...
is
it
is
quad-
Almost the whole length o walls run two seats, and on the
door
is
seen a
little
elevation,
Ostian mithrceum
that
it
is
entirely
pavements,
figrures
all
is
seats,
and walls
The
various
and
the
in
executed
Upon each
side
figured
PART
I.]
63
spring- equinox,
whole myth of Mithras is related to the phases of the sun hence are represented in the ground below the seats all the twelve signs of the zodiac, by means of the usual symbols, but each accompanied by a large star."
in fact, that the
.
.
known,
In the
many
similar to that
so
well
figured
Lajard's
are
Culte
de
Mithras,
various
heavenly bodies
represented.
The
opposed
to
in his attack
upon the
Bull,
joyous and
the conviction
is
clearly forced
sistently, and,
Bull so per-
by Mithras
in
were destroyed
daytime by the
opposition.
conviction
we
64
[part
i.
was associated
could
traditionally
in
Roman
days
it
only have
been traditionally
with
in
the oc-
conjunction
of the supreme
friend
of his
abounds.
We
find por-
wearing a Phrygian
and "thrusting
his
adorning the
walls,
we do
into
find a colossal
dagger
the body of a
more
"
mystic
"
Roman
instance
sculptures
at
least
a
the
combining
of
Bull,
in
one
Lion,
attributes
Chipiez
have supposed
to
this
con-
stantly
repeated
scene
1
represent
imaginary
li^
Persepolis.
Combat du
roi et
du
griffon.
Palais n
3.
Perrot et Chipiez.
Tome
PART
I.]
65
contests
possible
monarch
but
and
a
all
impossible
monsters,
very
different impression
Ker Porter by
plain them, he
these
same
bas-reliefs
and though
to ex-
was
combat
of the combat
constantly carried
repre-
and beyond anything that would have been in the power of more elaborate action or ornament to effect. From the unchanged appearance of the hero, his unvaried mode of attack, its success, and the unaltered style of opposition adopted by every one of the animals in the contest, I can have no doubt that they all mean different achievements towards one great aim.
animals,
and
a sublimity to his
."
vol.
i.
p.
672.
66
[part
i.
sculptures, of
not
difficult to
Zodiacal
spring
traditionally
associated
to
with
other
the
the
equinox,
but
the
also
three
of
constellations
which
at
same date
4,000 to
world's
history
(namely, from
or
less
2,000
b.c.)
marked more
i.e.
accurately
the remaining
colures,
the
The
there
constellations of the
can
for
be
the
no
doubt,
were
appropriate
seasons,
star
marks
when
regards the
it
Eagle
it
though
stellation
solstitial
A
^
reason
for
the
substitution
of
the
Eagle
Water-man
or Water-jar
The
solstitial
and
in
PART
I.]
67
the
fact
of
the
the
first
Eagle.
a star of the
there
is
magnitude.
In
third.
the
Water-man
Persians,
no
star
above the
The
we
the colures).
In Taurus, Leo,
and Scorpio we
there
magnitude
was
therefore
no
temptation
for
Mithraic
mark and
represent
;
the
first
magnitude
to the
suitable distance
were Aquila,
north-west, or
Fomalhaut
to
solstice
was
in
Aquarius very
rarely visible.
The
choice by a
Median astronomer
and symbolic
artist in
mark
first
magnitude.
68
[part
i.
not
only
in
Persian and
the mythologic
seems
that
to
the
of
rather
solstices.
The
sun,
Griffin,
composed of a
in
well-known figure
In
glyptic
ancient classic
art.
Babylonian
art
and
is
Assyrian
often
sculptured
and
in
Merodach
represented as
The
is
for
ever
probably
The
association
of
is
;
to
be
they
new
at the
Maspero,
Dawn
of Civilization,
604.
TART
1.]
GRIFFIN
:
AND
SOLSTICES
69
winter solstice
to
the Celestial
solstice in lieu
who
to
vie in
power with
Here we may
(deemed by some,
passage
In
this
connexion
p.
the
following
:
from Sayce's
Hibbert Lectures,
261,
is
interesting
A
at
the presence of
.
.
hymn which had to be recited " in Bel-Merodach ... in the beginning of Nisan,"
.
O Zamama,
thou not take thy seat
?
Why dost
He
to thee."
adds in a note that Zamama was the Sun-god of Kis, and was consequently identitied with Adar by the mythologists. On a contract-stone he is symbolized by an eagle, which is said to be
"the image of the southern sun of Kis." It was claimed in a former paper (Feb. 1896) that " the Southern sun " was " the sun of the winter solstice" and that Gula ( = Bahu) was the name of the constellation, or of some stars in the constellaIn these lines Bahu, as I have suption Aquarius (V. p. 50). posed, Aquarius, and Zamama, symbohsed by the Eagle, the
image of the Southern sun or winter solstice, are closely associated. 2 Maspero, Dawn of Civilization^ p. 666.
70
[part
i.
for a
Again,
in
is
sent
by Zeus
in
heaven, and
placed in the
constellation Aquarius.
the
is
Lion, the
the con-
Bull,
stellational
emblematic of
it
may
be,
we
to
we
shall
be ready
grant the
in
full
same
to
other
Tauric symbolisms
prominent
With
conviction
we
shall recognize
in
the
The resemblance
required
to
is
scarcely
point
out
when once
compared
of these
In
the
spirited
description
PLATE
V.
THE CONSTELLATION
TAURUS
CAPITAL
FROM SUSA
[To /ace p.
70.
PART
I.]
PERSEPOLITAN DEMI-BULLS
71
capitals,
some
lines,
marked with
to
italics,
which might be
demi-bulls
of the
applied
Zodiac.
with exactness
the
On ne saurait cependant ne point admirer le grand gout et I'art ingdnieux avec lequel, dans ses bustes de taureau, il [I'artiste perse] a p\\6 la forme vivante au necessit^s de la decoration architecturale.
"
II
a su la simplifier sans
;
lui
enlever I'accent de
la
vie
les
traits
caracteristiques
de
I'espece
sur
menus
auraient
regard.
I'epaule,
de distraire et de troubler le Les polls de la nuque et du dos, de des fanons, et des flancs sont reunis en
risqu6
masses d'un ferme contour, auquelles la frisure des boucles dont elles se composent donne un relief plus
vigoureux
col,
;
en
meme
temps
le collier
qui
pend au
ce sont
tion
de
I'artiste
comme
crees a
nouveau
et
modeles
qu'il soit
donnait a remplir.
ffistoire
72
[part
i.
mouveet
ment de
cotd,
avant
sur
la
ample
puissant.
struction et la
replUs sous
le
taureau se leverait et
dresserait
en pied,
J 'en
s'il
ai fait
plusieurs fois I'experience au Louvre, devant la partie de chapiteau colossal que notre musde doit a M. Dieulafoy parmi les visiteurs qui se pressaient dans
:
salle, parmi ceux memes qui semblaient le moins prepares a eprouver ce genre d'impressions, il n'en est pas un qui n'ait subi le charme, qui de maniere ou d'autre, n'ait rendu hommage a la noblesse 'Strange beaute de ce type et a
cette
singulier."
Median
origin.
much
architectural
learning.
in
They show
differed
and
politan
from
the
Ninevite,
Grecian,
or
Egyptian column.
They
where except
at
Persepolis
and
at
Susa
is
the
PART
I.]
73
;
demi-bull
yet
be
met
that
with
this
and
they express
is
the
opinion
to
feature,
so far as
known proper
Persia,
was mainly
derived
from, or
of Assyria.
Very
Medo- Persian
Assyrian
art,
palaces of the
site of
Nineveh,
is
writers
on the sub-
There
are,
make
it
difficult
adopt
this view.
In the
first
place, the
symbolism supposed
to
The Achsemenid
at
who
built
their palaces
Persepolis
claimed
constantly
that
they were
;4
of
[part
i.
bolism
gested,
above
the
but
also,
as
it
is
sug-
their
one
great
Lord
figs.
2,
3),
would
in
itself
his
had
been
utterly
by
the
still
victorious worshippers of
more improbable.
From
see the
that,
city,
it
Nineveh
easy to
by
Layard
most
it
is
the
part
sacking of
had
It
for
the
been
of
left
its
just as
fell.
rifled
material
wealth,
left
literary
and
artistic
treasures were
very
site of
Nineveh
was unknown.
The
to
it
turned
inspiration
and
for
themes of symbolic
art with
PLATE
FIG.
1.
VI.
Assur.
Assur.
PLATE
VI.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 4.
Western portion
of Constellation Sagittarius
and the
74.
PART
I.]
75
The
however,
art
is
between
Medomust
one
in
many
instances so
for
it
dissatisfied with
The
pose
is
alternative suggestion
and other
religious symbolisms
from
the ancestors of
the Medes.
Tauric symbolism,
if
it
is
at
all
astronomic,
its
first
at
an independent nation
generally put.
The symlatest,
have
B.C.
Of
the Assyrians
earlier
than 1,700
But
I
further, in the
believe
;6
to
[part
i.
stellations,
but
precision, to the
furthest
B.C.
To
of
Assyrian representations of
over the winged
disc,
presiding
and we may
upon
it
by other
refer-
circle
holds
ex-
Assur
;
in
some
amples
similarly furnished
bow and
1
arrows.
that
equipped,
believe
heavenly
fig. 4),
to
be recog'nized
situated,
to 4,000 B.C.
The
fact that
replaces the
hand of Ahura
us doubtful
at first sight
make
PART
I.]
Tj
for there
we
find
Ptole-
Not only do
Assur's
resembling
Tauric
symbol.
allusion
in
this
Assyrian
Median
Gemini
True
opposed
it
is
that,
is
speaking
generally,
Sagittarius,
irregu-
larity in the
shape and
to
in the ecliptic
the
There-
Assyrian
Standard
(depicted
Plate
Layard's
Monuments of Nineveh,
XXII.)
78
[part
i.
we
of
the
figure
Bull,
of
an
Archer
in
above
that
galloping
and
another
Assyrian
II.,
we
find
not only
PLATE
VII.
Standard of Sargon
Perrot et Chipiez.
II.,
B.C.
Histoire de
PArt dans
t'Antiqidie,
Tome
v.
79.
\Tojacep.
PART I]
79
the
the
two constellations
equinoctial colure,
which
but
marked the
at the
we may
solstitial
the
namely,
Lion
circle
in
wavy
suggest streams
Below
the jar
may
(like
the Perse-
monster
earlier
described)
be
considered
as an astronomic
constellations
monogram
The monogram
origin
than
in
Archer
is
opposed
to
the
Bull, in
the bas-relief
8o
[part
i.
the Scorpion takes the place of the Archer, and the Eagle takes the place of the Water-man.
The
east
to
stars.
Therefore the
The
pointed out,
is
for that
constellation
when
At
VIII.
is
;
colures at
4,000
B.C.
much
earlier or
much
can
we
symbolism
Earlier
Pisces,
in
the
Standard shown
not
Leo
and
colure.
in
marked the
B.C.,
equinoctial colure.
At
curious
this
date,
4,000
accuracy
by
this
Assyrian Standard,
we
later
Semitic Sargon
ruled
at
Accad.
In
the
PLATE
c,CC&.^o.
VIII.
^4bT^
Position of Colures amongst the Constellations at the dates
To face
p. 80.
PART
I.]
8i
astrological
as
some
made
of the Assyrian
The
Phoenicians,
"
the
Hittites,
the
Kings of
Umman Manda"
"
the land.
Of the Manda we read as The Umman Manda comes and governs The mercy seats of the great gods are
Bel goes to Elam."
is
taken away.
Professor Sayce
the
opposed
to
the view
that
Manda
;
are
necessarily
identical
with
the
Medes
Median the
If
victories of the
Manda.^
now on
Medo-Persian writers we
possibility,
assume,
at
least
as
that
these
Mazda.
Ahura,
it
is
on
hands admitted,
is
the
At what-
Proceedings, vol.
xviii.
Part
vi.
82
[part
i.
Aryans
the
worship of Ahura
(still
amongst the
Iranians;
indeed,
many have
all
sup-
other Asuras,
separation
the
Aryan
Lord
in
races.
for
the
Ahura,
times,
called,
as
here
supposed,
Asura,
that
I
early
by the
Aryan
circle of
Manda,
would
claim
the
astronomical
at
the
spring
out,
equinox
been pointed
distinctively
Median.
to this supposition,
in
According then
a powerful
vicinity
B.C.
Median
race
was established
in
the
of
Babylonia early
race
the
fourth millennium
the
who worshipped one great Lord, first under name of Asura, afterwards under that of
for these
Ahura.
It is
Aryan Manda
or
Medes
in
that
would claim,
monogram
which
PART I]
83
so plainly
which
at that date
marked
i.e.
This
thousands of
To
the
Manda
or
Medes,
also,
would,
as
first
imagining
emblem common
divine
to
Ahura and
Assur
that
of the
Manda
for
more
conquest
many
the
land
now known
as
Assyria, and
a Semite
whence
in
Umman Manda
Kingdom
b.c.
had threatened
of Accad.
That
may perhaps be
84
[part
i.
a lately discovered
inscription of this
the
city
of
Assur
propitious
genie,
and
of
honouring Istar
in the city of
Nineveh.
To
nation,
close
resemblance
in
language
and
The
enthusiasm,
the
Babylonian
gods
but
high
Assur
This
difficulty
would explain
manner.
had, by
When
the
Medes
Hammurabi
or his
Northern Mesoposettlers
by Semitic
who
more than a
thousand years
whom
read
In 2 Kings xvii.
we
PART
I.]
ASSUR,
85
brought
men from
in the cities of
:
Samaria instead of
Later in the same
and dwelt
chapter
we read
God
it
the worship of
their
own
gods, added to
a worship of the
Israelites.
that
the
polytheistic
settled in
Semites,
who
in
Northern
manner.
Mesopotamia,
similar
Coming
into
Medes
or
Manda had
extent his
to avert the
wrath of the
god of
certain
worship.
In
fact, like
own
gods."
religion
in
also an explanation
of the resemblances
Median
religions,
or
86
[part
i.
religious
to the
in this
two peoples
proposed
for
problem
Paper,
namely,
the
Persepolitan
that
and
the
Ninevite
symbolic
art
by
the
supposing
Assyrians.
Medes
borrowed
from
In
support
at
p.
of
75,
the
alternative the
suggestion put
forward
that
progenitors
of the
religious
I
symbolisms
that
from
the
would claim
Assyrians
name
look
of their
god Assur
For
upon Assur as a
To
the
Medes
in
B.C.,
or
as
has
been argued,
about 4,000
the
power
I
Northern Mesopotamia
astronomic Assyrian
them,
first
and
Ahurian
I
emblem.
attribute
To
the
on
the
same
of the
grounds,
imagining
astronomic
Assyrian
PART I]
87
winged
Bulls
"
so
I
well
known
as
full
"Assyrian
conviction,
and
to
them
would, with
To
a
these
conclusions
of
consideration
the
distinctively
character of the
Median
Median
art
V
ASTRONOMY
IN
Congress held
at
Rome]
than
Europeans some of
its
literary treasures.
Almost
to
the
of the
science
of astronomy in
to find
in
this
India
already
scholars
were amazed
language
long dead
treatises,
many
learned
astronomical
besides complete
ating, year
Some
vealed,
re-
and accuracy
European
of this Indian
many
points
of
resemblance
between
PART
I.]
GREEK
the
opinion,
in
V.
89
cated
that
astronomy
contained
Sanscrit
first
;
to
enter the
against this
Grecian theory
and
and
in
originality
of
the
science
of
as-
tronomy
"
I
India.
engage to support an opinion (which the learned and industrious M. Montucla seems to treat with extreme contempt) that the Indian division of the Zodiack was not borrowed from the Greeks or Arabs, but, having been known in this country (India) for time immemorial, and being the same in part with that used by other nations of the old Hindu race, was probably invented by
the
first
persion."
and
supported
it
with
whatever
at his
linguistic
and
scientific resources
were
command, volumes
authors have been
of heated controversy by
many
On
i.
Complete Works,
vol.
p.
333.
90
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
The
majority
of
to
scholars,
both
have
ac-
cepted,
Indian astronomy,
Indian
of
ac-
quaintance with
Zodiac,
is
the
division
the
to
be attributed
Grecian influence.
hold the view advo-
minority of writers
still
Indian
standard
in
astronomical
work
of
the
this
Silrya-Siddhdnta)
(twelve-fold)
i860.
"The
use
division,
The
in
minority
who hold
been
in
said, the
all
their
opposed opinion
the
calmness of
conviction.
I
will
now
as
briefly
as
possible
state
the
this
and against,
FART
I.]
91
intro-
I.
duction
India of the
it
twelve-fold division of
the Zodiac,
is
we
is
to this
day
that
it
not possible
sets
believe
that
of as-
fanciful
tell
of communication between
to
Greece and
similarity
India,
sufficient
of
astronomical
method,
after
b.c.
the
about 300
have
The
first
become
known.
all
As
the Greeks
their astronomic
theirs
than
is
drawn from
92
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
work
in existence
the
purely Indian
taint
Rig Veda,
twelve-fold
containing-
no
of the
Grecian
the
to
divisions
Zodiac appear
be unknown.
so generally adopted,
that
Sanscrit
is
work
once
in
which mention
at
claims
to
antiquity
may
earlier
than
the
comparatively
300
B.C.
II.
The
calendrical pur-
twelve-fold Solar
Zodiac,
mansions
(this
is
for
series
it
But
is
point of
Lunar Zodiac
(a point at the
end of Revati
of
was due
PART
I.]
HINDU CALENDAR
570 A.D.
93
much
of
earlier than
is
600
a.d.
very clear
thus given by
Whitney
Surya
editor
Burgess' translation
Siddhdnta)
of the
"The initial point of the fixed Hindu sphere from which longitudes are reckoned, and at which the planetary motions are held by all schools of Hindu astronomy to have commenced at the creation, is the end of the asterism Revati, or the
beginning of A9vini.
Its
situation
is
most nearly
. .
marked by
that
f
star
by
us,
all
authorities
identified
with
Piscium,
of which
reckoned
17 54'.
by
from
Vernal
Equinox,
is
(of the
equinoxes),
about
a.d.
570.
As
such coincidence was the occasion of the point being fixed upon as the beginning of the sphere, the
time
of
its
occurrence marks
of
approximately the
of
mencement
astronomy."^
^
the
history
modern
Hindu
94
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
deduced
which
I
from
the
astronomical
supposition
italics)
(to
put
forward in
is
ancient Sanscrit
lists
literature
appealed
Hymns and
to
in
are
be met with
the
Vedas,
holds the
place.
the
Pleiades.
The most
stars
in
in
the
two
(the
stars
the
Ram), known
astronomers
as
and p
about
It
is
Arietis.
The
2,000
vernal equinoctial
point
coincided
Krittika.
B.C.
with
the constellation
considered to be
of this
coincidence, at the
date
when
the
hymns
series,
and
list
in
question
were
composed,
and hence a
similar reason
for
it
the
later
to a date
not
much
earlier
These very
briefly, as far as
PARI
I.]
INDIAN
V-
GREEK SCIENCE
arguments
95
in favour
of
(i)
introduction
of the
B.C.
twelve-
fold
570
a.d.
for
the fixation of
for
the
the
initial
of the of
Indian
the
Zodiacs, and
of
commencement
history
Indian
astronomy.
authorities.
The opponents
to
borrow their science from the Greeks, Arabs, Moguls, or any nation of MlSchcKhas, as they call those who are ignorant of the Vtfdas, and have not
studied the language of the
quoted to
me
(Sir
an
{ita
old
verse,
Gods they have often William Jones) the fragment of which they now use proverbially
;
nicho yavandtparah),
or,
'
lower than a Yavan,' by which name they formerly meant an Ionian or Greek, and now mean a
Mogulr
1
Sir
Complete
p.
345.
96
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
Again the same writer points out that the" resemblance between the Indian and the Greek
Zodiac
" not
is
which has often been observed between our Gothick days of the week and those of the Hindus, which are dedicated to the same luminaries, and (what is yet
more
extraordinary than
that,
same order Ravi, Mangala, Tuisco Sdma, the Moon the Sun Budha, Woden Vrihaspati, Thor Sucra, Freya more
singular) revolve
;
in
the
Sani, Sater
yet no
man
ever imagined
that the
These
William
reflection
considerations
put
forward
by by
Sir
Jones
that
are
further
emphasized
the
not
Brahmins adopting
into
science
;
and
their
but that
two
rival
Hindu
sects.
at
the
same
date
and
with
equal
enthusiasm
PART
I.]
97
Greek
writers at the
may be quoted
was held
as showing
as for instance
(written about
Apollonius of
Tyana
his
contemporaries
is
of
India
he
represented as learning
^
many
things, especially
matters of astronomy.
in
regard
Indian astronomy
may be
Grecian
supposed,
Hindu
writer
of, it is
the
first
century
B.C.
He
says
"The Yavanas
science (astronomy)
Hindus, or barbarians),
is
amongst
them
this
well established.
;
Therefore
is
Somewhat
'
to the
same
effect
speaks a Hindu
who wrote
Book
iii.
chapter 13.
Romesh Chunder
98
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
five different
works known
to
He
says
"There
Paulisa, the
are
the
following
Siddhantas
The
Romaka, Out of these five, the first two (the Paulisa and Romaka, which appear to have been European treatises) have been explained by
the
Paitamaha.
Latadeva.
accurate,
Paulisa
is
stands
the
Siddhanta
is
pro-
claimed by
(Saura)
^
Romaka
more accurate
the Savitra
Siddhanta,
work)
truth.
"2
it
native
Surya
Siddhanta
over
the
Paulisa
and
Romaka
Siddhantas,
may
be appealed to as not
' This opinion of Varaha has been confirmed by modern European scholars. Burgess (from whose translations of the Surya Siddhanta we have already quoted) remarks, " in regard to the amount of the annual precession of the equinoxes, the relative size of the sun and moon as compared with the earth, the greatest equation of the centre of the sun, the Hindus are more nearly correct than the Greeks." {Journal of the American
. .
Oriental Society,
2
vol. vi. p.
480.)
The Pancliasiddhaniikd.
i.
3.
PART
I.]
VARAHAMIHIRA BENTLEY
the
co
-
99
conveying
wrote
his
impression
religionists
that
when
avidity,
Varaha
were
and
with
scientists
accepting,
wholesale
and
Grecian
already
that
own
is
native
science.
It
true
Varaha's work
are
to
many words
;
evidently of Grecian
origin
be met with
that these "
and some
scholars
have claimed
in
Hindu astronomy."
in
That
of
a work professedly
treatises
astronomic
some
them
Indian,
can
scarcely be
an
author
interested
to
home and
time
important
may
anti-
quity in
Sanscrit astronomical
lOO
ASTRONOMY
all
IN
[part
i.
manner on
diatribes
their
authors.
furious
may be quoted
in
is
as an extreme example of
the
way
claimants to antiquity
it
and
may be
on as convincing argument.
Bentley,
"The
hardly
fact
is,"
writes
"that
literary
forgeries are
now so common in India, that we can know what book is genuine, and what not
is
perhaps there
probably
in
a thousand, that
;
not a forgery, in
that
some
to
be
:
full
of interpolations, to answer
some
all
particular
ends
nor need
we be
surprised at
this,
when
we
in
consider the
facilities
as well as their
own
than
those
restraint
any further elucidation They are under no of laws, human or divine, and subject to
to require
known
already
given.
PART
I.]
NEW
SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
if
i
loi
no punishment, even
Hterary impositions."
It is
unnecessary
now
said
and written
originaHty and
the
Indian acquaintance
with
the
twelve-fold
fixation
of the
that
is
initial
We
have seen
Within the
last
the
minority,
who
still
The
have of
of
possessed by
these peoples.
Hindu Astronomy,
etc., p.
i8i.
I02
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
Astronomy and
Biblical Archaeology,'
and since
by various authors,
Proceedings.
Also
in
the
Zeitschrift
fiir Assyriologie,
articles
have
been
contributed
Epping and Strassmaier's Astronomisches aus Babylon and Die Kosmologie der Jensen's
Babylonier,
these
are
important
volumes
devoted
to
same
matters.
else
Whatever
cussion,
all
some
age
facts
are
clearly
established.
We
fourth
now know
remote
millenium
as
early
as
the
b.c.)
divisions of the
these
divisions
in
now
depicted on our
PART
I.]
3000 B.C.
103
celestial globes.
dians,
and
later
The
varying
Mars,
planets,
Mercury,
Venus,
on the monuments.
concerning
the
science
of astronomy
affect
in
the judg-
ment of enquirers
science in India,
into the
history
of the
same
and
Now
that
it is
clearly
b.c.
fanciful
Zodiac were
it
known
cannot
the
any
longer
be
asserted
dogmatically
that
till
inhabitants
B.C.
of India
300
ASTRONOMY
I04
IN
[part
i.
Nakshatras, at the
degree of Aries
point
coincided
with
Zodiacal
series
inasmuch
as
month Bar
righteousness," that
the
was
in conjunction
ist
appears as the
month of the
These
late
revelations of archaeology
seem
relied
to
main arguments
on
origin
it
is fact
minds
first
This
admitted (see
art.
But
is
of the calendar
of
Until
exist,
and corrections can be shown to the evidence of the tablets may still be cited as pointing
traces of such reform
to a
counted from the sun's entry into Aries, ages of Babylonian civilization.
year
in
the earliest
PART
I.]
B.C.
105
to
of the
teachings
of Sanscrit
literature,
is
and endeavour
to learn
The
Veda
there
is
no
Some
this
and
question
has
been
argued
ignorance
on
of
all
etymological
the
Sanscrit
grounds.
My
entire
language prevents
me
from
in
at
following
cussion.
the
arguments employed
here
that
it
this
dis-
And
with
may
be
said,
good
reason,
for
the
discussion
connected
Vedic
in
literature,
writers ignorant
of the language
ill
equipped
At every
;
keenly
feel
my own
;
disqualifications
but
many
Veda
broad
translations
are in existence
into
etymological questions,
has seemed to
of
me
of
that
astronomic
explanations
some
the
io6
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
myths might be
supplied,
be
admitted.
In
this
paper
am
anxious to
original
explanations.
really
qualified
judge
finally
gestions
here
into
made can be
the
sustained
If
enquiry
of Vedic
Vedas.
here
will
the
interpretations
myths
proposed
are
correct no
in
doubt corroboration
Sanscrit
If
the
names and
no
such
corroborations
in
are
to
be met with,
the
the
probabilities
astronomic
interpretations
be
greatly
diminished.
But
It
is
sometimes
with
the
twelve-fold
division
of the
otherwise
these
great
their
this
constellations
hands clear
and
outspoken
fully
notice.
With
argument
cannot
agree.
Even
before
pointing out
PART
I.]
107
the
believe astronomical
I
phenomena hold
received and
Rig Veda,
would draw
non
myths,
striking
it
is
necessary to suppose
more
the
those
connected
of
Zodiac
phenomena
true
were
almost
that
some
great
scholars
for
claim
on
linguistic
yet
translations,
and
and
the
impression
left
on the mind of
very
little
attention
or honour
is
given to
moon, or
stars, in
lavished
on the elements of
air
and water,
of
the
dawn
to
is
almost
appeal
the only
celestial
with
any
io8
ASTRONOMY
to
IN
[part
insistence
Rishis.
the
imaginations
the
Vedic
If out of the
liberal
considerably
wonder
if
the constellations
of the
The
poets
and
at
lived,
and
their altars
and
libations
of
Soma.
it
They must
shined
if
"
and
and
they so
hymned
it
their
and
quaintly imagined
all
figures,
were
it
indeed the
is
case that
absent
my
desire
is
to
draw
attention
to
possible
astronomic
interpre-
PART
1.]
109
tations
many
of
the
Vedic
myths,
and
the
all
mention of
Those who
mysterious
have
collection
of
hymns
most constantly
that
it
to confess
is
it
still
understood,
and
though
is
phenomena
of nature,
the
exact
phenomena underlying
there
is
the
various
Vedic
myths
among
is
scholars
much
to
difference of opinion.
in
It
impossible not
feel
reading
notes,
speculations,
them,
that
notwithstanding
the
labour
of
and
this
research
ancient
bestowed
on
the
work,
much
Veda
still
understanding of which
not possess the key.
Guided
by
the
teachings
now make the suggestion that the key to this cypher may perhaps be found in crediting the authors of the Veda with a somewhat advanced
"
10
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
celestial
sphere
figures
and
Zodiac
and
in
assuming
that
the
of the
" ancient
constellations
To
that
pursue
were much
be desired
students should
names and
" ancient "
constellations
so
well distinguished
by the epithet
and
easily
some
of
the
more
the
scenery of the
have
movement known
Classical
of the equinoxes."
and
philological
scholars have
to
howfrom
spare
own
intensely
interesting
and
important
are
phenomena
by them.
a
not
much observed
or considered
The
from
celestial
PART I]
1 1
is
who have
subjects,
to
not
as
yet
for
devoted
thought to
such
judge
ableness or
Vedic gods.
According
late
to
A. A.
Macdonell
has
who
in
his
work
scholars
is
Vedic
Mythology
summed
up
clearly
of
Indra
the
is
god
of the
Rig
Veda; he
number than
of
"devoted
^
to
number
hymns
Indra,
in the
Rig Veda."
What may
of
relate
that,
stripped
epithet
and ornament,
draughts
of
invigorated
fights
by
copious
Soma, Indra
from
with,
demon
snake.
called
Vritra
or Ahi,
who
for,
1
is
dragon,
searches
serpent
water
Indra
also
finds,
and
releases
54.
112
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
according to some
or
priests).
from
the
angirasas,
all
the
bless-
especially
he
is
the
dispenser of
According
to
the
usual
non
astronomic
ex-
god,"
is
" primarily
the
thunder
god
"
who
the
conquers
or
again,
" the
" Indra
is
personification
of
phenomena of
metaphorically
clouds
the
capacity of sending
down
rain.
This property
conflict
is
described
are
until
as
a
to
with
the
their
which
stores
reluctant
assailed
part
with
watery
the
and
; .
.
penetrated
.
by
is
thunder
as
bolt
of
Indra
the
cloud
demon named Ahi or Vritra ... a popular myth represents him (Indra) also
personified
as
of the
stolen
or of
the
by an
A sura
named Pani
ob-
Macdonell,
Wilson,
Ve-^ic
Mythology,
p. 66.
pp. xxx.-xxxi.
PART
I.]
113
serves:^
in
many
that
refer
latter
to
the waters,
for
we have
compared
seen
the
are
occasionally
is
Thus Indra
said to have
But the
man when he slew the dragon. cows may also in other cases be
with
Indra's
conceived as
light,
connected
winning of
issuing from
cattle
for
the ruddy
beams of dawn
dark
the
compared with
stalls.
coming out of
Again, though
Veda under
name
{abkra, etc.),
it
logically to
of
the
cow
{go),
thus
it
rain-clouds
are
is
cows roared
At
of the
He
says:^
"The name
of
A vesta.
Beyond
Vedi'c
Jbid.,
Mythology,
pp. 66.
p. 59.
14
ASTRONOMY
is
IN
[part
i.
uncertain.
Indra's distinctive
Avesta
in
God
of Victory.
Thus
of the
that
it
is
possessed a god
Vrtra-slaying Indra.
the
even possible
the
as
beside
-
Indo
European period
distinct conception
a thunder-god, gigantic
in size,
hymns
in
trying to
fit
them
quoted,
is
to
the
passages
a constant
and very
imagination
dis;
agreeable
strain
put
on
the
it
same
time,
two very
far
apart opinions as
Vritra
is
to
demon
Vritra.
to
be
thought of
as
demon
;
of
darkness,
and as a
demon
of drought
also ruddy
beams of
are
not
to
be
easily
PART
I.J
INDRA,
115
bracketed together.
not excepted,
of bright and
The appearance
hand"
is
then of a
little
the
ance of
rain."
no
forcible simile
by which
to describe in
myth
rain
which to be of
any use
is
continued
dispersed.
downpour
from
clouds
not
hastily
Indra's action
first
in driving
in
away
the cloud-
demon
Vritra,
is
and then
cloud cows,
also contradictory.
For the reconciling of many of these contradictions the astronomic interpretation of the Indra-
Vritra myths
all
is
as follows
Indra
may
still
retain
down
rain
but
Indra
is
fication
of the summer
The summer
solstice in India
;
an all-important
it
agricultural epoch
it
brings
with
" the
rainy
Before
16
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
the land
parched and
arid,
and
vegetation
is
at a standstill.
The
India
is
many
parts of
so exact that
the
rain
Indra, as a per-
sonification
season
which
so
punctually
demon of drought. But Indra is more than many praises are bestowed on Indra in the this Rig Veda for deeds which cannot easily be explained on the simple atmospheric theory.
is
" Indra
the
highest of
;
all "
is
the
refrain
of
many
in the
Vedic verses
sky,"
sun high
of
" Indra
tore
off
one
wheel
the
sun's
chariot,"
the
sun."
Now
all
these
and
clearly to
be interpreted
where
to
at that
season
zenith,
of the year
the sun
attains
the
very
and thus
Indra
associated
is
spoken of as "highest
PARTI.]
117
of
all,"
said to
high
the
in the sky."
Or again
to
myth
''the
or
stm
made
stand,"
we
read
that
Indra
sun,"
is,
I
of the
and "stopped
cannot
but
is
his
tawny coursers."
not
Indra
believe,
merely an atmospheric
solstice.
god
if
he
the
And
Vritra
this
?
may
be
demon
Indra personiIt is
fied as
impossible
to think so.
The astronomic
propose
is
interpretation of the
myth
would
that
a
is
snake-like
constellation,
the repre-
sentation of the
demon
Vritra.
On
dragons
the
celestial
sphere
but
many
the
all
serpents
far
and
are
represented,
reaching
its
constellation
Hydra exceeds
from
the others in
tail.
enormous length
brilliant
head
the
to
No
nor
in
very
the
stars
its
mark
stars
asterism,
grouping of
snake-like.
to the
is
appeal
all
Ii8
[part
i.
the
This
certainty,
reason
in
may be
arrived
at,
studying,
with the
help
pre-
So
to
studying,
we
shall
find that
4,000
B.C.
or
for
be
more
precise,
one or
its
earlier
Hydra
90
extended
enormous length
along
more than
nomically
matical line
symmetrically
one
astro-
important
(though
invisible)
mathe-
the
the
line of the
heavenly equator
accurately
and was
at
same
date
bisected
line,
by another equally
Plate IX.).
important mathematical
the
summer
it
solstice
(see
Almost
irresistibly,
as
appears to me,
the
the
position
B.C.,
held
it
by
the
constellation
Hydra
4,000
figure
that
first
was
was
fitly
there
to represent the
may we
darkness
great and
power
but
PARTI.]
I19
ever again
be
conquered
by
the
victorious
this
power of
of
light.
In astronomic myth
power
of
was represented
its
highest
solstice.
culmination,
the
season
in the
the
summer
winter,
For an observer
length
temperate
northern zone
all
the whole
Hydra
the
was
at the date
named
visible
Hydra's
greatest
glory.
At every midsummer,
some portion
solstice
itself for
of the
monster's
But
at the
summer
no star
in
the
constellation
might show
The supposed
IX.
is
Plate
but
it
is
to be
remembered
Indra-Vritra
midsu?nmer
solstice.
It
therefore
and
visible
at
midivinter
midnight.
120
is
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
even possible
heaven,
the
as
beside
the
thundering god of
period
Indo
European
dragon
we should
but
it is
Indian Zone
in
we should
look for
tem-
we
the
contradictory
Vritra,
attributes
assigned
of
to
the
demon
drought. In
namely
those
darkness
and
northern
;
latitudes
winter
is
distinctly
the
dark season
perceptible
no
of
dis-
difference
between
But
in
the
darkness
is
India winter
V. p. 114.
> H W
PART
I.]
i3i
tinctly
dry
season.
Midsummer
is
the
all-
Indra's
conquest
solstitial rains,
marked
Hydra
Vedas
in
the
conquest
over the
demon
power of
of drought, but
tradition
is
traditionally
in
for the
great
even
attributes
of the
demon
of
darkness.
At
Plate X. a drawing
is
heavens
and
of
the
constellations
at
invisible
at
midsummer and
3000
B.C.,
visible
midwinter, above
the
the
date
will
Soma
myth,
it
is
to
But
the
if
Indra
is
to
be considered as representing
summer
solstice,
constellation
122
ASTRONOMY
mighty Indra
is
IN
[part
i.
the
to
to
trmmph
trial
According
and the
intoxicating
juice
extracted
therefrom
mythology of Soma.
Vedic
literature
is
admitted that
a regular
in post-
Soma
name
of the
moon, which
Some
in
writers point to
the possibility
the
that
even
the
Rig Veda,
and the
few
" in
Soma hymns
.
there
may
occasionally
lurk
veiled
.
.
identification
of arnbrosia
moon,
the
exceptions
certain
generally admitted,
to
is
appears to be
that
the
seers
of
the
Soma
and
a personification
of
plant
juice.
One German
"often
writer, Hillebrandt,
very strongly
Soma
this
all
in
the
Rig
Veda
114
the
is
moon,"^
the
and
case
in
especially
according
him
the
hymns
of
^
Mandala
IX.,
addressed to
"p.
Soma
113.
PARTI.]
123
and
combat.
That Soma
in
the
Rig Veda
is
is
primarily the
more
or
to
less
directly
fits
referred
in,
the
Vedic
to
hymns
the
theories
Indra's
Soma,
of
as
must be evident
with
If
readers
this
paper,
in
it.
the
astronomic
advocated
we
consider that
of the
summer
solstice,
conquering,
we can
easily understand
how
in this
contest
by
the bright
moon
flooding the
all
heavens with
the
brightest
radiance
stars.
and
enfeebling
but
of
Mandala
IX., are to be
still
crediting
we
the
study
date
of
these
constellations
at
124
ASTRONOMY
B.C.
IN
[fart
i.
3,000
full
moon
With
so
of the
midsummer
in
or solstitial
season was
Aquarius.
always to be observed
this
in the constellation
thought
of
our mind as
IX.,
in
mystical
is
hymns
Mandala
as
often
described
rushing impetuously
with
many
other
such
expressions,
we
easily recognise
moon
further
in
the
constellation
Aquarius;
and
when
to
we read
the
Soma
to
to
Indra, or
at
the
sacrifice,
we have only
look
the
celestial
its
flight
and
moon
to
remember
attained the
vase,
it
on the same
;
meridian
as
the
Aquila
and the
it
as
borne along
by the
eagle,
one
full
of the
most
variable.
The
in
moon
nearest to the
summer
east
or
the
west
position
the
diagram,
but always
in the constellation
Aquarius.
'^::y..
PART
I.]
THE MOON
hymn
IN
AQUARIUS
125
In one
of the Soma-bearing eagle (or hawk), allusion to the small but well-marked-out constellation Sagitta
(the arrow)
lation of "
may be
detected.
(vol.
In Wilson's transiii.
Mandala IV. 27
p. 174),
we
read
his
descent
Soma) perceived
by
it,
Soma was
(carried
away)
an
arrow against
it."
Now
Agni.
to turn to
Agni
terrestrial
is
amongst
in
gods, but
some
sun.
passages
he
is
to
the
i",
as
it
exists
fire,
on
but as
life,
of
vegetation
or
3'''^,
2"'^,
exists
in
the
atmosphere,
;
mid-heaven,
as
it
the
form
in
of the
lightning
1
and
is
manifested
vol,
i.
pp. xxvii.-xxviii,
126
ASTRONOMY
light,
IN
[part
i.
heavens, as
bodies."
And
the
adds,
having
"still,
enumerated various
deities
who
sun
in
hymns appear
as manifestations of the
he
however, the
place
in
the
Vaidik liturgy
of the ancient
as
which he seems
Persians,
to
have done
is
in that
and
he
chiefly
venerated
the
The
as given
classification of
Agni
as a terrestrial god,
in
accordance with
according
to
the
theory
advocated,
nor,
Macdonell,
as a celestial god,
may be
established.
The Vedic
Waters,
is
deity
Apam Napat
the
son
of
by Macdonell as an atmospheric god, and he says,^ "In the last stanza of the Apam napat hymn, the deity is invoked as Agni, and must be identified with him," and again, ^ " Agni's
classed
>
Vedic Mythology,
p. 70.
/^/^_^ p. 92.
PART
I.]
127
origin
the of
aerial
waters
'
is
often
referred
to.
The
son
waters
has,
as
has
been shown,
become a
distinct deity."
Then
turning to other
Agni must be meant. Some of the later hymns of the Rig Veda tell a legend of Agni hiding in the waters and plants, and being found by the gods. ... In one passage of the Rior Veda also it is stated that Asjni rests in all streams and in the later ritual texts, Agni in the
;
waters
is
invoked
in
even in the oldest Vedic period, the waters in which Agni is latent, though not those from which he is produced, may in various passages have been regarded as terrestrial. ... In any case the notion of Agni in the waters is prominent throughout the Vedas." To explain this legend, Wilson makes other suggestions. He writes:^ " The legend of his (Agni's) hiding in the waters, through fear of the enemies of the gods, although alluded to in more than one place,
water-vessels.
Thus,
is
....
the allusions of
may
be a figurative intimation
hension of a natural phenomenon which seems to have made a great impression in later times the
vol.
i.
p. xxx.
128
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
shape of inflammable
or as the result
puzzling,
and that
to
notion so
in
Agni
the
the
various
suggestions
"lightning,"
"latent
shape of inflammable
sub-
that
Agni,
whose
fire "
^
regular designation of
the
hymns
are the
" to
Nor
concerning
"
Agni
in
the waters
be
made
at
to the
sun rising
in the
itself
The composition
to
Rig Veda
is
attributed
Aryan
settlers
" scattered
to
over the
lying
the
by such
p. 88.
settlers the
PART
I.]
THE SUN
IN
AQUARIUS
129
Even
the
phenomenon
evening
in the water,
and
it
is
why
sunrise
of the Agni
admitted,
relating to
is
figures
is
the
interpretation
is
of those
;
Agni
:
waters
not
difficult
it
as follows
Agni
is
the personification of
is
fire,
personification
as the
fire
of the sun.
Agni
the
of the sun in
3,000
B.C.
sun was
in conjunction
Those hymns
rising
therefore
being born
^
in,
and
The
moon
at the
summer
solstice.
130
ASTRONOMY
considered as
IN
[part
i.
may be
tion
hymns
European
sun as hiding
itself
The
the
appropriatethat our
due
to
fact,
new year
solstice.
the winter
Again, in
the
sober
prose,
is
the
said,
winter
solstice
to
having attained
its
its
lowest point,
ecliptic.
rise
It is
or begin
therefore
Rishis,
not
to
understand
how
the Vedic
who appear
to
B.C.
described
in,
the fire
of
in,
the
sun,
as
hiding
being
born
and
PART
I.]
131
In
Agni myth,
which the
as
in
that
of Indra,
we
may
The
are
to
latitudes in
forcibly
drawn
diminution of the
strength
and
visibility
of
however,
well
Indra's
conquest
is
over
darkness
as
as
over
drought
celebrated,
and
for
the
the
at the
time of
important place
the
may
partly
be
how slow
but inevitable
changes
in
heavens, produced
gradually
by
the
precession
the
equinoxes,
in
the
hymns
as
to these
sol-
Indra,
if
indeed
still
powerful
ever,
and
but
triumphs over
is
the
demon
well
of
drought,
no longer
that
demon
represented
by the
132
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
snake-like constellation
for
on the night
set,
of the
summer
solstice, after
is
still
the
whole of Hydra
No
longer does the mid-summer full moon bathe its o brightness in the celestial waters of Aquarius,
itself in
them.
The hymns
to, exist
remain, the
phenomena they
referred
no longer.
and of reference
to
them
in
the
Rig Veda,
argument
let
in
favour
of
the
modern
orig-in
of
Hindu astronomy
as stated above. ^
It is
a claim
made
that
for
for
the
the
of the
initial
point of the
Indian
Zodiac at
of
the
"end
of
beginning
oppose.
It
A9vini."
This
claim
desire
to
in
is
a few of the
rather
is,
The
matter
avoided
It
however, a question
V.
p. 92.
PART
I.]
INITIAT.
POINT OF ZODIAC
interest
to
133
if
of great and
possible,
important
ascertain,
whether the
circle of the
Nakshatras was
known
as
to the
if it
were known,
whether the
point
was
fixed there,
where
we have
of Hindu astronomy
We
that
we
at the
date of about
570
a.d.
point
It
have
been
fixed
by Indian
astronomers.
therefore
an unreasonable quest
pages of the Rig Veda
important
astronomical
search
in
the
ancient
this
for
indications that
point
as
had
the
been
fixed,
even before
of a
Vedic
times,
starting-point
calendrical
find
and
sidereal
in
year
and
Rig
if
we
the
in
should
such
indications
the
Veda,
they
may
well
out-weigh
arguments
against
upon passages
From
be drawn
the
in
Yajur Veda
arguments may
V.
p. 93.
34
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
month
In
com-
the
Taittiriya
Sanhita
^
(contained
in
the
which
is
translated
B. G.
p.
46
In this of
passage
is
discussed
the
superior
suitability
on
consecrate
themselves
of these
the
yearly
sacrifice.
three
the
spring
Krittika.
equinox
the
sun's
with
The
choice
lie
of date
first,
appears to
"
between,
of
but one
in the
i.e.
of the year,
full
moon
of PhalgunI
and
third,
the Chaitra
moon.
B. G.
Tilak, after
to,
summing
Hindu
Chaitra
is
tlie
month which
month may,
Zodiac
^ ^
point of the
Taittiriya Sanhita,
8.
At
in this
48 he quotes authorities in favour of the Ekashtaka (day) passage meaning the 8th day of the dark half of Magha.
p.
PARTi.i
ASWINI
r.
KRITl'IKA
135
up,
amongst
which
he has arrived
Magha
quite clear
2""^,
as
there
can
not be
three
real
beginnings
each, the
month
passage must be understood as recording a tradition about the Chitra full moon and the Phalguni
full
considered as the
first
days
of the year."
This
is
B.
G.
Tilak's
conclusion
merely
seems
to
the
the
beginning of the
Sanhita
sacrifice,
it
is
said
of
it,
"It has no
in
fault
whatsoever."
But
hymns and
lists
Yajur and
136
ASTRONOMY
Vedas,
is
IN
[part
i.
Atharva
Krittlka
in the
above
in
which
celebrated
the
first,
and AswinI
twenty-seventh place.
fact that the
in
The
is,
to the opinion
based on the
hymn
add
in the Taittiriya
Brahmana concerning
the
Nakshatras,
seems
interest
to
the
the
Rig
^
Veda
that
the
Indian
year
was
as
ecliptic
And
to
at once, as
it
on turning to the
after page,
The
first
Nakshatra
in the
Indian series
is
named
Nakbe
Aswini (Aswins).
shatra are
1
The two
twin
stars,
the
as
they
may
fairly
V.
p. 94.
in
most
to the
parts of India
is
the
is
first
month
:
of the
Hindu
year.
The beginning
of the year
same point in the present the beginning of the Lunar Mansion Aswini.
p. 45.)
PARTI.]
ASWINI,
a
tt
AND
fS
ARIETIS
of
137
called,
and
fi
Arietis
stars
almost
to
equal
the
radiance.
year
hymns composed
appearance
in
whose
before
heralded
the
Hindu
counted
is
a sidereal year.
It is
on
the
ecliptic,
from
season.
It
is
be made,
the
mdirking
by
their
heliacal
to
rising
new
year's
festival
full
festival
be held on the
15th, or
moon's
day.
The Hindu year is now counted from the new moon immediately preceding the sun's arrival at the initial point of the lunar Zodiac. The first of
Chaitra (the
falls later
first
may
arrive a
month
earlier.
138
ASTRONOMY
same
initial point,
IN
[part
i.
the
new moon
whole month
month
Chaitra.
The
first
day of
month
later.
For the
the Aswins
that
I
hymns
to
when these hymns were composed, the year was so counted from the new moon folloiving and
not from that preceding the arrival of the sun at
us
first
read the
summing up
and of and
of
then
let
us
consider
the
astronomic
method
interpretation
above proposed.
"
and Soma, the twin deities named the Asvins are the most prominent in the Rig Veda, judged by the frequency They are celebrated with which they are invoked.
to Indra, Agni,
1
We read that^
Next
p. 49.
PARTI.]
THE ASWINS
fifty
IN
THE VEDA
139
in
more than
times.
entire
400
is
Though
deities
among
the
of light
Indian,
their
connexion
light
is
with
any
phenomenon
preters
of
so
obscure,
that
their
from
it
makes
to
be sought
The
Asvins are young, the T. S. (Taittirlya Sanhita) even describing them as the youngest of the gods.
They
hued
occult
are
at
the
same time
ancient.
They
are
and honeyThey possess profound wisdom and power. The two most distinctive and fre-
quent epithets of the Asvins are dasra, 'wondrous,' which is almost entirely limited to them, and
ndsatya,
'
which
.
.
is
.'
generally
explained
to
mean
not untrue.
It
heaven.
Their car .... moves round traverses heaven and earth in a single
Dawn)
'
The
time of their
appearance
darkness
when
'
still
stands
among
and
of worshippers.
Usas
(the
Dawn)
140
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
awakes them. They follow after Usas in their car. At the yoking of their car Usas is born. Thus their relative time seems to have been between dawn and sunrise. But Savitr (the sun) is once said to set their car in motion before the dawn.
Occasionally
the
appearance
fire,
of
the
Asvins,
the
to
be spoken of as simultaneous.
The Asvins
not only at
are invoked to
their
come
to the offering;'
natural time,
but
also
in
.
the
.
.
as
dawn
Usas and Agni are stated to be gods of and in the Vedic ritual they are connected
with sunrise
originally
and
restorinof or
In the
to
be typically succourp.
Again, at
51,
the writer
"Quite a number of legends illustrating the Asvins are referred to in the Rig Veda." Here follows an enumeration many miraculous of "protections," and cures, and then^ "The opinion of Bergaigne and others that the various miracles attributed to the Asvins are anthropomorphized forms of solar phenomena (the
succouring power of the
p. 53.
PART
I.]
A PUZZLE TO C;OMMENTATORS
man
thus
141
meaning the
release
At
same time the legend of Atri may be a reminiscence of a myth explaining the restoration
the
As
to the physical
is
basis of
so vague
do not seem
to
have underrepresented
stood
deities
.... what
represented
puzzled
even the oldest commentators mentioned by Yaska. That scholar remarks that some regarded
them
(the Asvins) as
(as
does
Brahmana), others as Day and Night, others as sun and moon, while the legendary writers took them to be two kings,
the S. B.
'
' '
Satapatha
performers of holy
obscure."
In contrast to
acts.'
Yaska's
own
opinion
is
all
dictory
explanations,
astronomical
suggestion
made
of-fact
at
and
base
should
underlie
and
imaginative
similes
does
not
in
detract
from
fitness,
their
poetic excellence.
Indeed, an
is
added
to
and
therefore
in
an added beauty,
be
can
recognized
think
of
the
Aswin
hymns,
when we
142
ASTRONOMY
as
IN
[part
i.
them
deities
deities
dawn
to
who
of the
new
and
year's
and
whom
their
unknown dangers
I
and
/?
Arietis
must
festival as
above
of course to be borne in
luni-solar.
mind
that the
The
actual
point
of sun and
moon
or
new moon
took
place,
and
in
from
which
each
year
was counted,
varied
30 degrees.
The diagram, Plate XII. Figs, and 2, represents the maximum and minimum distance between the rising of the Yoga stars of the Nakshatra AswinI, and of
the sun on the
1
first
first
month of a
luni-solar year
PART
I.]
NEW YEAR
DIVINITIES
143
moon following
the sun's
A9vini."
It will
u.
and
Arietis
in
the
hymns
for the
it
appearance
to
also accounts, as
seems
me,
many
not
sick,
aged, and
first
personages,
it
does
at
sight
account.
We
Aswins are
anthropomorphized
this
forms
of
solar
when
fully
followed out to
logical
end, agrees.
But
the
at first sight
we wonder how
the sun at
in
144
ASTRONOMY
IN
[part
i.
especially
3,000
solstice
B.C.,
was
Aquarius,
the
as
Indian
calendrical
and
sidereal
year,
such
at
its
has
been supposed,
a month and a
at
earliest
The sun
is,
the winter
may
be,
and often
;
described as pale,
but at
the
beginning of a
year,
a month
of as requiring
heralding Aswins.
To
The
difficulty,
recourse
may
lore.
firm foundation
I
on which
to build the
far-reaching theory
'
now
desire to bring
forward
new moon
initial
If the
Hindu
point
would begin
Since 3,000
at earliest
b.c.
stars.
PART
I.]
145
I
concerning them
a theory on
all
in reference
Babylonian
"
astronomy,
in
a
It
Paper
entitled
the
Accadian Calendar."^
B.C.
The
fact
was
stress
was
laid
this constellation
when
it
when
during the
first
month following
it
the equinox,
solstitial not
it
was suggested
the
that
the
first
degree
of
Aries,
that
the
Accadian
calendrical
scheme
had
B.C.
first
been
drawn
put
up
A
1
corroboration
of the
view
then
for-
146
ASTRONOMY
is
IN
[part
i.
ward
to
three
month
have
Accadian,
referred,
as
scholars
first
The month
to Aries.
ness
"
(2.)
The month
of the
"propitious
Bull"
to
Taurus.
(3.)
The month
twelfth
to
The
series
seem
equally
clearly
at
:
to
year
originally
solstice.
counted
as
beginning
the
winter
"
"
13th.
late
autumn
Many
There
sown
in
early spring.
" the
month of
fitly
in the twelfth
month of a
luni-solar
counted
from
in
the equinox,
or
the
winter
sowing of seed
the twelfth
month
of a luni-solar
PART
I.]
147
year,
from
the
solstice.
But when
we
find this
twelfth
month followed by a
to
thirteenth,
is
of which the
there can, as
that
especial
it
dark,
seems
any doubt
different
to
the winter
in
years extended
December
the
22nd
January
is
better
described by
epithet dark,
Very
curiously, then,
origin,
and of the
first
naming of
solstice
its
months,
as
the
that
when
the
winter
coincided with
suns
the date
To
to
in
B.C.
this
same date
it
is,
as
believe,
that
the
distressed
solstitial
sun
fully
and
moon and
earth
appear to point,
opinion
in
and
corroborate the
that
the
Aswin-legends
took their
1
rise
pre-Vedic
now
times.
They
also,
The
winter solstice
14^
ASTRONOMY
the
origin
IN
[^art
i.
as do
their
more
latitude
is
than
tropical
less
India.
scarcely
powerful
winter
than
in
summer.
The
astronomers
who drew up
the
astronomic theory,
have dwelt
VI
NOTES.
AHURA MAZDA,
ETC.
the Sociely
Professor
Hommel
in the
March number
"
for
1899
appear-
ing in a
list in
of Assyrian gods.
this
The
section of the
which
of
foreign
name appears contains " a number sounding names " belonging to gods
in
honoured, presumably,
Assyrian dominions.
Professor
Hommel
Mazas)
is
opinion "concerning
arguments
in
favour of
I
Assara-mazas,
should
like to
remark
in
we
150
[part
i.
words as
sun' (later
A Aura
surid),
Aryan languages.
same Kassitic
period,
Assur.
"
The
and
"
Ahura,"
virtual
first
was
Zodiacal constellation
was, on
it
was pointed
a nation, nor
;
b.c.
the
PARTI.]
151
Manda
rivalled
the
power,
The
Ahura Mazda,
origin, naturally
emblem
settlers
Aryan
ancestors
of
the
Medo- Persians
in
by the Semitic
B.C.,
who, early
may
no very certain
field
which
proposed
to
"
Aryan
some
derivation
it
would
occupy.
According
signifying
scholars
to
Professor
Hommel,
name Assur
meant
derived from
a word
host."
which
originally
"
the
heavenly
Professor
Hommel, quoting
by arguments from
the
152
[part
i.
in opinion as to
what
phenomenon
is
represented by Varuna.
He
some say
especially
others
whilst Oldenburg, as
we have
seen, sup-
It is
however,
that
attention.
It is
Varuna
is
Ahura Mazda,
Wise
Spirit."
may
ter
is
Ahura Mazda
clearly to
a parallel which
if
more
be recognized
for,
we
of the identity
Mazda.
is,
like
PART
I.]
RUBRAASURA MAHA
He
is
153
or Spirit.
him
" for a
comone
But
in
passage
recalling
the
to
epithet
" asura
maha," so
of
the
curiously
our ears
is
the
name
Avestan
"Ahura Mazda,"
a parallel to
^
As
Ahura Mazda
as
i,
Varuna
6.
the resem-
ii.,
Uncertainty prevails
among
Ahura Mazda.
The Rev.
L.
"
The Supreme
'
God
or
'
Lord
(ahu
'
the
or 'spirit'
root
,^
= 'to
be'), the
Great Creator
su-medhds).'"
or 'the
Wise One'
{cf.
"O
magnifor
donator
(?)
(vel)
Sapiens
(?),"
as
alternative
to
meanings
regards
Mazda.
Similar
to
uncertainty
to the
seems
prevail
as
the
meaning
be attached
Veda
Siikta
vol.
to
i.,
ii.,
p.
2ir,
we
:
In Wilson's translation
art
:
of the
Rig Veda,
and
passage he says
Twam Rudro
asuro
heaven
(
or
it
may mean,
."
Macdonell
Rudra
is
154
[part
i.
makes the
Varuna indeed
but considering
in
how opposed
above
place
all
But
when we
to
Assyrian representative
Rudra
an archer.
bow."i
strong
In
is
is
above everything
Rig Veda as
He
is
has "the
He
the
bow and
Paper
already
referred
to,
it
was
Sagittarius
1
ii.
Mandala
vii., xiii.
(xlvi.), i.
PARTI]
155
Median and
derived from
Median) Assyrian
Assur.
out,
only
at the date, in
round numbers, of
B.C.
is
mythologies of European
this
an
observation
European
nations,
were
still,
if
not
all
we have the Centaur (the Bullkiller) Chiron giving his name to the constellation Sagittarius, and in this fable we may, as it would
In Grecian fable
term
Bull-killer
The
man,
half horse,
It is to
not a
figure
of Grecian invention.
ments,
our
it
celestial
sphere
and
this constellation,
when
rises in the
156
east,
i.e.,
Taurus.
"
To
is
especially given,
in
for his
skill
He
was
wise,
he was
among
" Praise
physicians."^
sanitary drugs
worship
Rudra
ing,
for a
them
in
that allotted to
Chiron
to
Sagittarius.
a point on the
xxxiii., 4.
ii.,
Mandala
v., x.
(xlii.),
ri.
PARTI.]
157
horizon,
Orion.
in
Now
the
to
constellation
exactly
opposition
the
the
is
bow
stars
Sagittarius
plainly
to
that
legend
its
astronomical
in
be
inferred from
is
variant form,
which Artemis
to
represented
to death.
as
sending
stars
Scorpion
sting
Orion
The
bow
stars of
Rig Veda
but
in
later
In a
hymn
it is
and
of
difficult to
the
sculptured
of
Artemis,
crescent-
(Allowin
Hindu
"
and features
of their gods.)
I
who
is
shines like
triple
who
is
adorned with
:
eyes
who
^
is
who
armed with
Hymn
"An M
iS8
[part
i.
the trident,
bow,
:
the
mace,
the
discus,
the
Who Who
Kaila9e
crescent
;
is
is
whose matted
ablaze
with
the
moon
Whose hands
battle-axe
;
forehead
is
half-
fingers
are
interlaced
to
typify
deer
of Janus and
Jana)
we may
origin, as
divinities.
naturally seek
for those
for the
same astronomic
con-
cerning" the
Grecian archer
far as
know, ever
The
is
which he
is
especially
renowned
that
PART
I.]
SIVADIANA JANUS
159
above mentioned.
still
imperfectly
in
understood
year by
the
Roman
must have
But
originally
tradition
presided over
its
opening.
lines
Roman
embodied
Bull
"
in
Virgil's
speaks of
who
"
The golden star-tipped horns of the Bull are as we know exactly opposed to the westernmost degrees
of Sagittarius
to the sun,
;
and that
constellation, in opposition
Whether
this vernal
still
reformation was
is,
Rome
Janus
is
even with
four,
The
full moon
Sagittarius 4,000
b.c.
marked the
the
of the Bull.
'
in Sagittarius at the
I.,
217, 218.
i6o
ETC.
[part
i.
same
The
summer
the
solstice.
The
four
heads of Janus
may
marked by
archer Rudra
Siva)
myths
to
an
what
later
Iranian
source.
was not
to
the
season.
In
Roman
Median
Janus myth we
influence,
may
referred
Sagit-
moon
in
when
the sun
was
in
bright Bull."
All these mythological indications, derived from
Median,
Assyrian,
Indian,
and
classical
sources,
at separately
may
not
PART I]
THE MOON
to point us
IN
SAGITTARIUS
clearly as
b.c.
i6i
seem
we study
a very im-
upon
this observation
much
of the mythology
of ancient nations
was founded.
VII
ANCIENT INDIAN ASTRONOMY
[Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archeology, February 1900]
It
is
only
on Talmudic authority,
think,
that
researches
connected
with
Biblical Archaeology.
On
that, as a
and star-worship of
not peror by
way beforehand,
The end
could
stars
only
be definitely ascertained
visible to the observer.
when
three
were
162
PART
I.]
ASTRONOMY
its
IN
THE TALMUD
some watcher
of the
year,
163
have shown
heavens,
pale sickle to
of the
before
the
first
of the
month could be
announced.
also told,
The beginning
we
are
earliness or late-
ears of
state
of growth,
were
the
year.
to
be presented
to the priest
month of the
^
is
1 iii.
pp. 239
Bible Educator, edited by Rev. E. H. Plumptre, M.A., vol. and 240. " It may have been with a view to render
impossible,
that
astrology
the
...
is easy to know, from month to month, when to expect the crescent to become visible. Six times in the year the beginning of the month was decided by observation of the new moon. On two months of the year the determination of the new moon was of such importance, that the witnesses who observed the
. .
.
to
These occasions were the records that on one occasion as many as forty pairs of witnesses thus arrived on the Sabbath at Lydda. Rabbi Akiba detained them, but was reproved When the evidence was for so doing by Rabbi Gamaliel satisfactory, the judges declared the month to be commenced, and a beacon was lighted on Mount Olivet, from which the signal was repeated on mountain after mountain, until the whole country was aglow with fires."
give information at
Jerusalem.
.
.
Tisri.
The Mishna
164
[parti.
seem
it
is
tions with
trary,
any degree of
is
certainty.
On
the con-
there
much
in the
Scriptures to lead us
to
an opposite conclusion.
On
also
"
the very
first
and the
and of
seasons, and
And
scarcely
have we turned
fruit
And
And
the
to
his
offering."
the
we seem
to
be brought
year
;
touch
at
with
definitely
established
and
the
field
us of a remotely
old calendar
origin
astronomic indications
calendar at about
of this
this
6,000
and
from
calendar
we
PART
I.]
ASTRONOMY
IN
THE BIBLE
of
165
days
there
"
the
followed
month
''the
sacrifice
of
righteousness "
a sacrifice,
we may
well suppose,
of the firstlings of the flock, as the stars in conjunction with the sun during this
first
month were
under
imagined by the
institutors
of the calendar
ram ready
for sacrifice.
To
this calendrical
first
month our
attention
is
again drawn
when we
read, in the
book of Exodus,
of the
command
Hebrew
the
month Abib.
This month Abib,
it
is
generally assumed,
is
of in
some of the
later
Astronomy
and
again
claim
a
the
The month
Nisan,
zig"),
we may
tablets,
first
month Moses
of a calendrical
for millenniums,
;
many centuries
perhaps
before
the date of
and therefore
ANCIENT INDIAN ASTRONOMY
recalled,
66
[part
i.
were being
and
and
festival,
that for
year,
to
to
when they were told be the first month of the of that month, "a night
firstlings
festival of the
If
"Abib,"
Nisan,"
one and
very generally
varying
name from the ears of corn presented to the priest, and waved before the Lord on some fixed day of that month but rather it must have been (as we know, from Babylonian
crops,
its
and
sidereal
month.
Now,
if
we adopt
this view,
alternative derivation
for
the
Nor
is
it
by any
means
so to do.
the fourteenth
On
Abib
night of the
"
first
month
a night to be
much
PART I]
167
observed," or
reading,
star
according to
the
marginal
bright
in
"a
night
of
observations"
the
Spica,
the
in
and
at
midnight must
;
so bright a
star, that
of the
full
moon
its
riding close
lustre.
at
have obscured
The
the
Indians of to-day
in
to,
name
their
stars
their
lunar
Zodiac
in
which
opposition
not
from those
conjunction with,
the sun.
The
Arab and
the
the
Arabs
may have
it
followed
the
same
system
of
this
month
nomenclatiLre as
Indians
and
if
in
recalling
Hebrews
to
the
as that which
forefathers
Abraham,
first
and Jacob
have
yet
spoken of the
to
month
of the
year according
68
[part
i.
should
Abib,
after
the
star
in
now we adopt
the
itself
reality
difficulty
obtain
Hebrews,
to
great
in
must
the
our
minds
regard
to
of the first
reaped
Lord.
month of
of
the
year might
be
the
first
handful
corn
waved
before
the
The
than
in
To
restrict
a husbandman
to a fixed
ours)
before
not
begin to put
felt
would be
;
as a hurt-
husbandman
would be
a
a fixed
day
luni-solar year
still
more
hurtful
regulation.
The
to
may vary
late
the
whole month.
A
vice
in
beginning of
a
such
very early
agricultural
and
versa
an
early
calendrical year
might occur
a late agricultural
season.
PART
I.]
169
Considerations
to inquire carefully
nature
may
incline
us
whether the
the
theory
"
(concerning
traditional
As
ag-ainst
it is
an almost
un-
possible in this
Hebrew
scholar a
clearly
is
not possible
connexion
in date
between the
festival.^
wavinsf of the
1
first fruits
Pentateugite,
3.
Traduction
par
Rabbi
Wogue
to the
(Lazare), torn.
which
exists
exact day of the Passover festival, on which the priest was to wave
Le
texte porte
'Le
lieu
.
a une dissidence
.
.
Nous avons
des Septante,
;
adopts
le
lui I'autorite
immemorial de la Synagogue
mais, a ne consulter que les textes sans parti pris, nous ne sousr
aucune des deux doctrines. Ni la ceremonie de Tomer, comput des semaines, ne sont mis par nos textes en rapport avec la Paque, mais uniquement avec les moissons, soit ici, soit dans le Deut^ronome (xvi. 9). Des la recolte de I'orge, le divin
ni le
hommage
il
que
la
vendange,
en Palestine
qu'ailleurs,
ne
commence
170
[part
as at least a probability,
Mosaic
times
of an astronomically counted
this
Hebrew year,
right
and
if
long-held
regarding
the
observ-
ance
Hebrew festivals, on the other hand, the fact that we might then trace Arabian rather than Babylonian influence in the name of Abib
of
would have
the
its
The
fact
that in
the above
and
in
But there
is
a further point
fixe.
Mais une
les
les
et
comme
semaines apres,
froments, en
L'Omer et
'
la
Mainici
Sabbat
est
il
question
Puisque tout
est
subordonn^ a rouverture de
Sabbat qui
PART
I.]
ABIB
to
AND CHAITRA
be
171
of
connexion
observed
between
Indian
that
astronomy and
the first
Biblical
archeeology,
namely,
is
month
the
of the
Indian year
at
the
is
present date
in
the sun
This
month
called
which
it
is
the
Sanscrit
the
name
is
in fact
same
the
sidereally
to
month of
Accadian,
Babylonian,
and
Hebrew
possible,
whether
(as
some
scholars
it
tell
570
a.d.,
or
whether
has so
has been
To
tion in
this larger
controversy
my
172
[part
i.
before
at
Rome
1899.
in
forward
much
of the imagery
of
hymns bore
Zodiac.
Soma, Agni,
are
it
and
the
;
Aswins,
interpretations
proposed
and
is
finally
question,
which as
seems
to
me
of the Society of
Archaeology
the
it
quesfirst
month Chaitra as
month
times
discussed,
same month
as
Bar zig-gar
is
insisted upon.
races, in
the note on
"Ahura Mazda"
proposed an
identification of the
god
the
noctial year,
full
moon
PARTI.]
THE MARUTS
of the
173
nomic myths
attention
to
ancient
India,
let
us
turn
our
sons
of
Rudra
the
Maruts.
They
Vedic
among
is
and
it
is
to
Veda
as the father of
Now
Maruts
the
stormy
troop
of
Maruts
are
They
are
"associated
with
him
it
in
innumerable
passages."
Here, at
first
sight,
identification
and Rudra as
cations
solstitial
and equinoctial
;
must
break down
for
how
should
the
as
On
itself.
further
examination,
very
interesting
From
hymn
(quoted at
p.
157) to Siva,
the
Hindu
we
forehead of Siva.
Now
would, 4,500
B.C.,
174
[part
i.
summer
quarter"
the
moon,
in
its
"first
in the first
attain to "full
either in
the
full
constellation
Pisces,
and
the
moon
in
tions
somewhat
than
4,000
b.c.
The Maruts
Veda
as a troop, seven
three times
number.
The
days
astronomical
the seven
itself,
that
Maruts represent
the
seven
that
elapsed
or
Soma pavamana
moon Soma
of the
summer
solstice,
And
with and
includes
the usual
non-astronomic ex-
are
storm winds;
for
we know
in
that
the
days
of the
solstitial
monsoons
prevail.
Now
let
PLATE
XIII.
CKXXXX]
"
Outer circle divided into 360 degrees. 2nd circle. The names and extent of the Nakshatras " or divisions of the Lunar Zodiac.
3rd
circle.
twenty-seven
Indian
Indian
or
Names and
extent
of
the
twelve
"Rashis"
at
4th circle. Proposed three-fold division of the Vedic Season of Summer Solstice.
Lunar Month
Proposed identification of " Maruts " with Moon's Nakshatras" at Season of Summer Solstice. The Constellations here appear as drawn on the celestial globe they have not been reversed as in the other illustrations, hence an apparent, though not real, contradiction ensues.
Section of 5th
circle.
[To /ace p.
174.
PART
I.]
TRITA APTYA
to
i;S
it
seems
solstitial
myth, namely,
Trita Aptya
is
is
same
He
is
constantly,
in
the hymns,
associated
with
as per-
in
same hymn
Trita
;
attributed to Trita.
also
in the
is
often
spoken of together
with
preparing the
Soma
mentioned
astronomic
later,
are
easily
explainable
on
in
the the
theory
of
already
Indra,
propounded
identifications
of
Soma,
and
of
the
Maruts.
In the
of the
name number
Trita there
three,
is
certainly a suggestion
in his
it
and Macdonell,
to
Vedic
show "that
"
was
is,
to
that
in
order of sequence.
third,
1
in
this
sense,
does not
P. 69.
176
[part
i.
the
in
meaning of third of a
search of an astronomical
whole ;
yet, to
any one
the
explanation
of
Trita
myth,
the
reiterated
mention of the ten fingers of Trita quickly suggests the thought of a whole
divided
into
three
consisting of
twenty-nine and a
fractions
half
in
solar
days
(with
some
usage
over)
into
is
Hindu
calendrical
divided
" tithis,"
thirty
equal
and
here, as
at the physical
lunar
month
the
part
during which
;
the
moon
is
and
as Trita
is
Indra and
Soma pavamana,
full ")
the ten lunar days (five before and five after " the
moon
is
at its brightest,
and
in the constellation If
Aquarius.
we
think of Trita
Aptya as a
personification
PART
I.]
177
summer member
solstice
(see
Plate XIII.),
and
if
we
full
re-
that the
in
moon during
" third "
contained
that
in
came
in
Aquarius or
juncture
of
Pisces,
sometimes indeed
at
the
these
constellations,
we
shall
be able
to understand
much
There
is
This legend
tells
him.
Here
the
doubt
is
a mythic descrip-
tion of the
full
moon
of
summer
or
waters
Aquarius
Pisces.
else
The
circular
circular
full
covering can be
nothing
than the
disc of the
178
[part
i.
moon, and
may
well
remind us of
it
moon when
has
emerged from
sky.
eclipse
and
rides
In
the
in
many
also
points
Vedic
under
Trita.
Thraetona
of
his
represents
Trita
is
some
other
aspects,
and mention
made
slay
brothers
who seek
facts
is
it
to
From
Trita
these
may
be
the
myth
pre-Vedic.
to
We
of
need
of
it
not, therefore,
in
be surprised
mythologies.
find
traces
European
only a
The name
termination,
Trita,
with
the
change
Triton,
of
appears
at
as
Greek
in
an allusion
the
Roman
in
Tritons
men and
half fish
to
the
stellations,
Aquarius
and
Pisces,
his abode.
our
of
the
in
'
myth
the
art,
two
as
of
Pisces
fish-tails
appearing
Italian
the
two
p. 69.
PART
I.]
TRITA,
TRITONEKATA, HECATE
179
by
scholars,
resemblance
;
in
name
of the
to Ekata.
she was
the
close
We
may
therefore
She
further said to
Looking
Plate),
we may
course
waning appropriated
to
began
the
A
the
1
Trita
and
his
solstice
not to be supposed that only the month of the summer was divided into the three parts, personified by Ekata,
:
Dvita,
and Trita
(or,
is,
Trita in the
waters
of the waters),
in the constellations
Aquarius
indications in
mythology seem to point to a similar division of other months, but the subject is surrounded with uncertainties and difficulties.
i8o
[part
i.
brothers played
We
read
into
may
confirm us
of the
Aryan
race
in
months,
not as
containing twenty-nine-and-a-half
first,
Ekata,
should
Dvita,
Trita
each
three
tithis.
this
case,
it
would be
shown by
their
tithis,
whence much
alike in
thirty
difficulty
ensued
counting lunar
months of alternately
who
retain
division of the
lost the
month
thought
of
its
PART I]
NEW MOON
half.
^
i8i
and a dark
Vedic
To one more
direct
lunar
:
personage
let
us
our attention
namely, to
unlike the
is
conquering and
celebrated
for
ever-victorious
misfortunes.
chiefly
his
Agni,
his
Indra,
misfortunes,
come
to
the
help
of
Atri,
and by
means of a hundred
extricate
acts,
him from
captivity,
They make
the
him refreshing
drink.
One
In
the
of our
own
poets
may
help us to under-
hero,
The sun to me is dark And silent as the moon When she deserts the night,
Hid
in
"
The
Luni-Solar year
is
;
of conjunction
Chaitra.
month
commences at present at the Sun and Moon in the Sidereal The Hindu Lunar months invariably consist of
of the
82
[part
i.
New
is
in
a dark
in
cave,
spoken of as
in
a fiery
the Vedic
mind
is
that
time with
burning sun.
Atri
is
in
India,
at
as
many
up
the time of
festivals
New
Moon,
especially
at
the
marked
of the
winter and
summer
solstice,
or the
beginning of
^
On
one occasion
we hear
of
Lunar days ; and the whole month is divided into two equal parts of fifteen Tithis each, the one called Shukla or Shuddh Paksha the bright half or increase of the Moon the the dark half or decrease of the other Krishna or Vadya Paksha Moon." (The Indian Calendar for the year 1892.)
Wilson's
Rig
with
Veda,
vol.
iii.
p.
297,
"
5.
When,
Silrya,
the
son
of
the
the
his
Asura
worlds
place.
spread
thee
darkness,
beheld
like
one
bewildered,
knowing
not
spread below the Sun, then Atri, by his fourth sacred prayer,
covered the Sun concealed by the darkness impeding his functions. (Siirya speaks) Let not the violator, Atri, through hunger 7.
swallow with fearful (darkness)
me who am
thine
thou
art Mitra,
PART
1.]
183
which
This
to
generally understood
new moon.
from
;
little
new
of
moon, saving
the
sun
instead
Veda
Atri
always appears as
light
friend,
not
an
Agni,
It
Indra,
and
we
may suppose
rather
may
also
be
number of
in
it
and
that
the
third
or
fourth
of
so that
by
his
fourth
sacred
is
prayer
discovered
difficult
the
sun.
The passage
is
no doubt a
royal
(Atri),
one
protect
whose wealth
me.
8.
truth
Varuna both
Then
the
Brahman
The
Sun,
whom
84
[part
i.
still
new moon.
Maruts,
with
Trita
The
posed
Atri,
for
Rudra,
all
the
Aptya, and
are
harmonious
and supplemental
at
my
Paper read
Rome,
and
must
entitled
Astronomy
in the
Rig
or
Veda.
fall
They
indeed
together.
if
briefly stated,
but
command,
will
easily
be able
VIII
THE CHINESE CALENDAR, WITH SOME REMARKS WITH REFERENCE TO THAT OF THE CHALDEANS
[Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical
Arckaology, December 1901]
The
star
Chinese
Lunar Zodiac
is
divided
into
28
Gustav Schlegel
in his
or
:
as
"
"domiciles"
says
voyant
La premiere chose
le
la liste
des 28 domiciles,
domicile Kio, ou
quelle com-
mence par
Vierge,
preuve
que I'annee a
du commencer primitivement,"
quotes from "
as follows
''
:
and further on he
le
Kio
et
'
Uranographie Chinoise,
86
. .
[part
i.
Kang
tions
:
ils
sont les
les
chefs
des domiciles, et a
lancien des constella'
cause de cela on
et
'
nomme
le
est
exactement
adds
:
Kang."^
Schlegel
"
Ce nom de Ancien
celui
exactement a
ou cette constellation
printemps.
le
etait
signe de lequinoxe du
commencement de
1'
I'annee
le
etait
le
premier,
le
Princeps signorum,
tions.
Ancien,
Mais ces
etoiles
de
la
d'autres
noms
astrono-
mique que
'
I'asterisme
'
Kio ouvrait
les
.
I'ann^e.
Le
quatre
Sing-king
les
les
nomme
Chefs
.
des
regions,
Legions
celestes.
Elles president
elles sont traver-
aux metamorphoses de
sdes
la creation
par
l^cliptique et les
sept clartds
elles."
(7 playlets)
The
I
have marked
giving
as they
do the
divisions
^
of their
Lunar Zodiac
p. 87.
may
Uranographie Chinoise,
PART
I.]
187 astro-
nomers as
he observes
"
The
initial
Hindu
and at
Hindu astronomy
is
to
of Acvini."!
It
is
concerning the
the
Hindu
without
to
suspecting
traditions.
both
initial
may be
as
month names
with the sun.
referred to the
The month
Ram.
V.
p.
93.
THE CHINESE CALENDAR
88
[part
i.
of
AswinI the
is in
Chaitra.
Spica {a Virginis)
is
Nak-
above recorded,
commencent
To any
of the
calendar, or rather to
any interested
in the history
human
it
reason for
which
was held
(as
we have
a question
to the
many
indications
in ancient
which
B.C.,
seem
about 6,000
PART
I.]
"
KIO,
CHAITRA, SriCA
and
in
189
in
some
part of Asia
a latitude probably as
far north as
"
which
at that date
were
solstitial
in the
in conjunction
with
and
I
the sun.
tions
chosen
by the
institutors
of
this
ancient
calendar,
in the course of
ages
moved
winter
gradually
solstice,
away from
the
season of
the
we
find
it
"
bound
fall
Indications in
ture have
clusions.
seemed
me
to point to the
above con-
The opposed
I90
[part
i.
on the
when
marked the
marks
and Hindus
I
equinoctial season,
for the
respectively.
in
may be
favour of an originally
equinoctial
opposed
to
an originally
Accadian,
for
was held
in
China
at the season of
latest writers
on the
he admits
chinoise
"selon
g6n6rale
I'annee
commence
ally
toujours avec le
solstice
d'hiver,"
has
opinion
according
to
his
theory,
the
PART
I.]
16,916 B.C.
191
years, as
i.e.,
mid-way
and as he
is
convinced
when
marked, by
solstice
its
mid-season between
and equinox.
many
learned and
in-
would be impossible
at
fairly his
rebutting
them.
His
me when
the grounds
on which
he
relies
are
sufficiently
modern
Chinese method of counting the year from the midseason between solstice and equinox.
192
It
[part
i.
me
that on
at
historical
which
will furnish
China was
solstitial.
alike to the
groups
as
said, their
common
b.c.
acquaint-
The
year
China
is
luni-solar,
and
it is,
as has
been pointed
out,
midway between
equinox.
It is
or
is
it
therefore not
is
and
is
estimated
exactly the
same length
as
our
European
Gregorian year,
PART I]
GREGORIAN YEAR,
1582 A.D.
193
We
here in Europe are not yet tired of conthe scientific success at-
gratulating ourselves on
many
a
learned
in
1582 he,
astronomers,
Julian
as
reform
of
earlier
all
calendar, a
recurring
airniversaries
civil
and
ecclesiastical
to the exact
same
Calculations
Rome
in Caesar's time,
To
with
find, as
we
do,
in
as
that
only
were
it
calcu-
by teaching us
by which
the Chinese
now count
and by which
194
years,
[part
i.
compiled at
Peking by
Roman
ecclesiastics, to
whom
for
well
known, and
whom,
novelty added to
interest.
its
and
scientific
Two
In 1600
learned
Jesuit
Fathers obtained
in
the
his
companions
to settle at Peking,
life
remainder of his
other sciences.
In
1610,
in
Johann
Adam
"was
von
Schall,
another
partly
in
learned
Jesuit
Father,
sent
out
astronomy
to the
to
Imperial
Court
at
entrusted
with the
direction
reformation
of
of the calendar
mathematical
and
the
^
the
public
school."
Under
"
'
these circumstances,
when we read
the
that
Ten thousand-year
'
Calendar,' in which
ele-
PART
I.]
CHINESE CALENDAR,
1624 A.D.
195
a.d. until
at
New
Year's
Day is January 21st, and the latest February 20th "^ when we read this and remember that Johann
von Schall was
in
Adam
1624
in
charge of the
we need
279
feel
no surprise
to
find
" the
Gregorian, years.
these calculations
is
we
it
of the
"
Table
to find
such
and such a
Common
when
Prayer.
And we may
the
be tempted to
conservative
unwittingly
smile
we
see
jealously
accepting a
^
perhaps
On
Chronology and the Construction of the Calendar, with Compictation of Time compared with
the European.
By
Dr. K. Fritsche.
'
196
[part
i.
Gregorian calendar
the
many European countries was resisted. It may well be that the Jesuit Fathers to whom Emperor entrusted the reformation of the
Chinese
methods,
for
they found
the
luni-solar
festival of the
new
year, as
we may
scientifically
bound
am
midway
be-
tween
been arrived
in
con-
one of
divi-
it is
marked by
the
^ Aquarii and
The
(See diagram.)
many
PART
I.]
TCHUEN-HIO,
is
2510-2431 B.C.
197
There
in
the
great
History
of
China
out
date
is
placed at ^2510-2431
The
conjunction
is in
moon
Hiu
this
mark given
fact
for
But the
of this
choice of the
scholars,
star
been
the
He
Tchuen-Hio's
reformation
the
phrase,
"15
du
Siou Hiu."i
eisfht
or ten
only the stars which compose the three adjoining domiciles, Niu, Hiu, and Wei are noted, and they are connected by straight
according to Chinese astronomical custom.
^
lines,
The
fact that P.
original
by the
late
Professor
Legge.
he wrote, in December 1894, to Mr. H. W. Greene, Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, as follows " In the passage from
:
P.
is
PARTI.]
"15
DU VERSEAU"
199
degrees of the
Aquarius
mark was an
is
as nothing
pared with
the
further
entire
distortion
ambiguous because
it
can
be taken
the
sign,
or
of
the
constellation
"du Verseau"
(Aquarius).
The
Siou Hiu
is
nomers reading
P.
de
Mailla's
in its
translation
sense,
have
technical
and
to
Emthe
Tchuen-Hio
year to
fixed
1
the
beginning
sign
of
Chinese
the
of the
Aquarius
speaking,
to
and
as,
astronomically
and
technically
no reference
only that
any
of
or
constellation,
but
is
point
mid-season
between
winter
solstice
and
spring
b.c.
200
at
[part
i.
same season
as
it
does
at
the
present
time.
Legge
that
is
it
was
to the star
group Hiu
Tchuen-Hio
recorded to
the record
true, the
begun
season,
and not
at the
mid-
between
it
When due
has been
made
in the
a difficulty to be
in the
overcome
should
say that
it is
when we have
corrected P. de Mailla's
For
in the
stated that
it
at
Our knowledge
of the precession of
Hiu
in
but
rather
the
PARTI]
201
Unless, then,
we
some Chinese
historian,
the
first
new moon
from
that
this historian
made what
and
the
he
in
may
the
well
record with
the
substituted
" first
day
of
spring
for
"mid-winter season."
him
find
for
ourselves
by
stress
of
modern
en-
de la Chine.
"Tchuen-Hio
jouissoit I'empire,
profitant
de
la
paix
dont
transfera
ville,
sa
cour a
Kao-yang,
Ce
fut
dans cette
202
la
[part
i.
etablit
une espece
en cette science.
On
observa-
compara avec
les
modernes,
surprenant.
qu'ils
soleil,
etablirent pour
supputer
les
mouvements du
de
la lune,
des
Tchuen-
Hio
que
nous.
"
le
titre
glorieux de restaurateur, et
la vraie
meme
de
fondateur de
ces
astronomic.
soient
regies
ne
pas
venues jusqu'
travail,
Tchuen-Hio
la
determina
qua
I'avenir I'annee
commenceroit a
le 15
du
Verseau
comme
il
savoit par
le calcul qu'il
en avoit
fait,
de son regne
les pianettes
la constellation
le ciel,
il
Cke
dont
le
choisit
cette ann6e-la
pour
la
premiere de son
que
cette
meme
annee
le
le
et
la
PART
I.]
TCHUEN-HIO'S REFORM
jour
'
203
premier
d'hiver]."
It
du
printems
[le
jour
du
solstice
in the
Histoire
element
in the
is
or
is
not true.
Tchuenfirst
nearest to the
constella-
Hiu near
to
which
this first
late
moon
was
The
Chinese
historian,
may have
substituted the
at
name
of the
star
his date
"other"
But the
probabilities
on
For, in the
instance,
we
must take
at the winter
and the
Vol.
I. p.
204
[part
i,
and
we must
references
many
group
Hiu
it
in
ancient
very specially
concerning the
Many
Pere
for
as
where
he
in
la
thus
the
quotes
Eul-ya.
and
comments
designe
(sic)
;
on
statement
"On
Hui
Hiuen-hiao par
appelle
adds,
"
Constellation
on
encore ce
Signe
Tchouen-Hio."
Gaubil
Le Signe Hiuen-Hiao est celui que nous appelons Amphora. Le dictionnaire [Eul-ya] met
dans ce Signe
le
la Constellation
Hiu
c'est-a-dire
que
Constellation.
I'eau est le
Chinoise
asseure
que
{sic).
L'Eul-ya
dit
Schlegel also
tells
the soul of
'
Tchuen-Hio
in the constellation
Hiu.
redigees
Observations
Mathimatiques, Astronomiques,
Etienne Souciet, tome
iii.
&c.,
et publiees par le P.
pp. 31-33.
PART
I.]
205
Hiu
in
Chinese
literature closely
:
Emperor Tchuen-Hio
it is
also
Schlegel gives
many
such
13,000
at
B.C.,
sun
at
that
season, not
date.
conjunction with
as
Tchuen-Hio's
Of Hiu he
writes
cet
asterisme
dont
la
culmination
I'heure
d'hiver.
tsze
'
Au
solstice
d'hiver,'
'
dit le
M^moire
soleil
ils
sur
la
la
course du
sont
consequemment
et vides
delaisses
comme
{Hiu).'
Le
solstice
dtait
done
comme
position d'un
. .
.
tombeau de ses parents.' pere Noel a traduit {Hiu) par Vacuum, Vide
orphelin
au
Le
mais
nous
pref^rons
traduire
litdralement
par
Tertre
funeraire."^
^
Uranographie Chinoise,
p.
214.
"
Ibid. p. 217.
206
[part
i.
into consideration,
we
are,
Hiu
to
mark,
in
solstice, are
paratively
modern choice of
group as a
mark
for the
beginning of spring.
we may assume
that
Tchuen-Hio
were
solstice,
was an
impossibility.
would
be a
tain
difficult,
injunctions of
Tchuen-Hio.
in
We
read
to his
in
the Con-
answer
"disciple,"
him,
"
how
the government of a
"Follow
the seasons of
PART
I.]
HIU
207
Hsia."
tor says,
And
in his
Hsia
the
dynasty.
all
During
all
the cen-
which the
Hea
or
sway,
of
out
much
new moon
still
nearest to
in or
have been
near
to the constellation
Hiu
(see diagram),
b.c, this
final
though
551-479
was no
result,
we may,
think,
for
granted
that
the
And
that
still
in
1600
Siou Hiu,"
the winter
and hence
solstice
'
at the season
midway between
equinox.
i.,
xv.,
ch. X.
2o8
[part
i.
suggested that
in
on Gudea's
diorite statue
we had evidence
Gudea's
of a
much
earlier than
in the
Gudea's date
is
claimed in the
Much honour
Lagash
" to
is
On
:
day of the
made
one
one
fat
dates, seven
palm buds.
offerings
made
to the
goddess
The
(Ninib)
that he
I
sun"; and, as
contended
1
my
February 1896, V.
p. 54,
PART
I.]
209
sun,
if
may
fitly
the
goddess
the
constellation
in the
Aquarius, as
Accadian astrological
If
Lagash
may
we should
Lagash
tell
inscrip-
us the
same
the
Lagash
inscription supplementing
that
long
less
:
garbled
in
its
human hands
is
that of Gudea's
new
untampered - with
also
of
some
in
moment
to note
Hiu, as
we have
may be
translated as
"
THE CHINESE CALENDAR
of the goddess
as
210
[part
i.
name
Bau
or
signification
the
"
Hebrew word
Genesis
If
i.
by
void."^
we now
calendar,
we
point
and we
Spica
Kio
containing
first
the star
in
opposition
to,
and the
same reason
year
6000
To
this
same cause
same
position,
and marked
of the
the first
month
month
"sacrifice of righteousness."
In thus tracing back the history of the calendars of the ancient nations of the East, in observing the
'
February 1874.
PARTI.]
IS
ONE"
211
and
and mythological
itself
ideas, the
more
were
scientific
intel-
common
high
We
the past,
may be
freshly struck
tell
us of the time
when "the
of
one
language and
one
PART
II
PLATES.
PART
PLATES
of
the
II.
support
date
the
ecliptic
circle,
at
the
remote
divisions;
B.C.,
by
of
men"
into
twelve
closely resem-
we recognize
in the
heavens
Astronomers
during
the
effects
years
of the earth's
we need
of this slow
its
movement
effects
of the earth's
in the
but in their
change not in their position relatively to each other, distances from the heavenly equator and its poles.
to fully realize these effects
The
effort
by means of careful
to
calculations
must
but,
prove
any but an
much
of the difficulty
215
2i6
of the task
XVIII.
which can
be
adjusted so as to show the position of the poles and equator amongst the fixed stars, at dates distant from each other by
intervals of
I
538 years.^ have shown in continuous outline those constellations for whose first imagining it seemed to me as early a date might be
claimed as that referred to
in dotted outline.
in
each diagram
all
The
drawn as they are represented on the globe ; but the fixed stars which mark these figures for observers of the heavens, I have not ventured to indicate, as to do so would have required great accuracy of drawing and measurement.
tions " are here
It
is
not for a
moment
to
be contended that
all
the ancient
under the forms by which we have learnt to know them from classic representations, from Variants the poem of Aratos, and from the star list of Ptolemy.
constellations were imagined exactly
of
many
of the
figures
are to
atlases
and on the
is
celestial
and
to estab-
forms
a branch to
of research.
That these constellations have indeed been well denominated " ancient " is scarcely to be denied, and our only wonder, when studying the subject, must be, not that some differences are to be met with as to the exact form under which, at different dates and
by
but rather the wonder must be that (as archaeological research is always more and more clearly establishing) through many
which
scattered in wild
^
to an unaccustomed observer seem to be and random profusion on the sky, should have
1800 A.D.
is
the date to
refers
the
this date.
ANTIQUITY OF CONSTELLATIONS
been divided into the same
representing the
distinct groups,
217
as
and thought of
same mysterious
beings.
But though
it
may be
were
first
imagined
in favour of the
artists
opinion,
Some
foregoing Papers.
constellations are
I
Had
it
been possible,
should have
because such as
it is
drawn these diagrams as at 6000 b.c. not only easier to deal with and to remember a round number
but also because at that date the
solstitial
that,
colure
initial
passed through the ecliptic only one degree distant from the
point of the Indian Zodiac
initial
Owing
it
to
in
may
best be
explained by the supposition that the choice of this constellation as " Prince and Leader " of the signs was made not when its stars
marked the
solstice.
this
opmion
and
2i8
PLATES
and Capricornus
Next
tortoise,
in
this
Plate XVI.).
In Babylonia,
Zodiac.
Denderah,
There
is
from each
other.
They
are
all
hard-shelled,
creeping,
and
it is
insignificant-looking
animals.
Why
conjecture;
but
if
we have
to
admit that
in
and
The
the sun,
when
in conjunction with
it.
in opposition to
And
it
was
is
when
and when
Egypt
rejoices.
strengthen
To
Egypt
to Libra
the
219
we
I
are
now
discussing (see
Plate XVII.)
is, it
and
it
is
suggestion
that
we may perhaps
"two
feathers,"
speak often of
dess
is
in her hand.
art, I
of
in the balance.
The
soul,
of the
or the
head a
single
plume or
feather
occupied
the other.
and we
who
and
in
p.
There
woodcut
Prof.
Maspero's
in
Dawn
of
Civilization,
130,
which
the head-dress
the
symbolic head-dress
in
so often to be
met with
is
Egyptian mytho-
logic representations,
It
was
in
The Didu
dressed.
first
suggested
my
mind, that in
four
this
head-dress
find
a reference
first
to
the
constellations
Zodiac was
quarters
of the
heavens
that
the
four
it
was
in
fact
an astronomic
figures in one.
220
PLATES
XV.,
XVI,
XVII., XVIII.
Less convincingly, perhaps, the disc from which spring the goat's horns suggests " the disc enclosing
a scarabeus,"
is
'
" He who
to
"^
The two
only adven-
As to Capricornus (the fourth of the constellations which marked the colures 6000 B.C.), (see Plate XVIII.), we do not meet with any representations, so far as I know, of a goat-fish on Egyptian monuments, but on Babylonian boundary stones and engraved gems this monster is often to be seen, exactly represented in form and attitude as on the Grecian sphere. The goat's horns are all we find portrayed in ancient Egyptian art, and when they are portrayed they appear together with the ratn's horns, and often springing out of a ram's head. For this curt reference to the goat (Capricornus) a reason may be found by remembering that
this constellation, in opposition,
presided
traditionally over
the
least
the
arid
season
embodied
6000
traditions already
;
earliest
dynasties
extremely ancient
B.C. that
for
it
was, as
may be
and Libra
it is
and
more
B.C.
a point
some
now drawn.
to
In each
the west,
moved
still
through the
stars,
to
4000
they were no
named
constellations,
Maspero,
p.
139.
"
Ibid. p. 138.
221
(see pp.
phenomena
4000
much
These
all
cated in this
book
one
of the colures amongst the fixed stars 6000 B.C. And it would seem that not till about 4000 B.C., when the colures had traversed, from east to west, the constellations Pisces, Gemini, Virgo, and Sagittarius, and had arrived at the eastern degrees of Aquarius, Taurus, Leo, and Scorpio, did astronomic authorities in Egypt direct their attention to a reform of the calendar and introduce into it, and into religious observances, references to these
Turning
colure,
to
Plate
XVI. we may
it
marking out as
I think,
some of
the
A
stars
;
These
of twin
name
and so we can
suppose how
in
it
tive
mapped out
stars,
222
PLATES
These two stars, thousands of years after they had ceased to mark the equinox, were still associated by the Greeks with the twin heroes Castor and Pollux brothers who, according to the
among them, that as one dies, the other revives." The learned Dr Barrett has pointed out that " this furnishes a complete description of Day and Night.'' This remark of Dr Barrett's becomes especially interesting if we attribute the first symbolizing of day and night by these stars to the work of astronomers at a date when
the day and night these stars symbolized were of exactly equal
length,
and when,
symbolized as twins.
occupies
At Plate XVIII.
colure,
it
is
to
instead
of adjoining
an almost
This
me
to think that
and
that the
the archer
half
man and
half horse
was added
who chose
In discussing the Median calendar, the importance which seems to have been given by the ancestors of the Medes to the
constellation Sagittarius, at a date
when
it
marked
the spring
It will, I think,
appear
likely,
when we
B.C.
come
to study Plates
that as early as
4600
Perhaps then,
extended to
into
like
its
at
present dimensions
and
it
may be
centuries later,
when the
the
constellation
of
Aquarius,
Gudea
DRACO
season, and to
Ai\D BOOTES
It
223
make
it
may be
that
added
to
These ideas are put forward very speculatively. They were partly suggested by noticing that in the Indian Zodiac the name of
the constellation Sagittarius
is
name
of Aquarius
is
Kumbha
(water
it will be observed that only the twelve figures of the Zodiac, and two of the
of these two
is
Draco
the dragon or serpent whose folds surround the central point of the of the
circle
Zodiac.
That the astronomers who traced out the circle of the Zodiac on the heavens, and imagined its twelve strange figures, should also have devoted attention to, and marked out, its central point,
is
not improbable.
is
The
immoveable amongst the fixed stars. At 6000 B.C., at the present date, the stars of Draco surrounded this point as a point not itself marked by any conspicuous star. We have not,
the Heavens,
however,
grounds
for deciding at
what
exact date the constellation Draco was imagined under the form
it
now
holds.
But
that
it is
is
no doubt.
For the
first
much
and the
standing up-
on the northern horizon, his head reaching nearly to the Pole of the Heavens. Never since that date has he held so commanding a position in the sky, nor at any more southern latitude
224
PLATES
Not,
XV.,
XVI,
XVII., XVIII.
One
to
am
tempted
make.
true,
for
on the same firm astronomical grounds the date of the first imagining of the
name
of the con-
stellation.
" The Bear-ward, whom mankind the Ploughman call, Because he seems to touch the wain-like Bear.'''' '
bright stars which mark the tail and part of the Bear are often spoken of as " the Plough," and the Great of body
The seven
Ursa
harnessed to
I
on the sphere to the conwould not be difficult to include oxen the brightly marked celestial plough.
jMajor,
it
have said that at midnight of the summer solstice the conBootes presided
if
stellation
we suppose
it
to
at
6000
learnt
B.C.
But we have
astronomers
who
instituted
journeyings from east to west, rather than to those which (in opposition)
all
For examplesacrifice
Ram the
in
celestial
symbol of that
were
like
hidden
I
In
manner,
year
think,
we may assume
Accadian
in the
month
ible
1
of sowing,"
"month of the sowing of seed" or in "the dark when mortal husbandmen were following on
verse
The Phainomena or " Heavenly Display " of Aratos, done into English by Robert Brown, Jun., F.S.A., line 92.
225
The
who
6000
B.C.,
in latitude 45 N., of a
race of
men
nomads
its
but
fruits
a race of agriculturists
tilled
intellectual
religion
who respected
to offer to their
law
god
'
PLATES
In Plate XIX.,
latitude
fig.
i, it is
the constellation
Grecian
above named, this constellation, if been imagined, culminated gloriously on the northern meridian at midnight of the spring equinox. The head of the hero, or demifitted to
god, touched the very zenith, and with his club brandished aloft
feet,
As was said at p. 223 about Bootes, 6000 B.C., so it may here be repeated of Hercules, 4667 B.C., "never since that date has he held so commanding a position in the sky."
At the present date of
Hercules "
will
writing,
and
^
ever
rise
reversed,"
and autumn months his kneeling figure is always to be seen hanging head downwards in the southern quarter of the sky. Grecian writers, some centuries B.C., were already puzzled to account for this "reversed" position of "the Kneeler." Aratos, from whom I have quoted above, thus further wonders as to this constellation. At line 63 we read
:
"
like a toiling
form.
to
Of it
Nor
what
toil call
attached
but, simply,
his knees,
Kneeler they
him.
Labouring on
"
;
and again
at line "
614
far distant
May
1
be."
verse
The Phainomena or " Heavenly Display '' of Aratos, done into English by Robert Brown, Jun., F.S.A., line 669.
226
227
4600 B.C. no such difficult speculations could have presented themselves to the minds of those who, in the joyous springtime
of the year, beheld in imagination, night after night, the grand
and conquering
figure of this
god or
we may
triumph
at that season
2.
It
was perhaps
in circle "
'
at this
same date
that the
round
close to the
bow
of Sagit-
and
suggested the symbolic circle, crown, or wreath which sometimes takes the place of the bow in Assur's hand, and which almost always is present in the hand of Ahura Mazda in
constellation
Median
as
it
At Plate XX.,
at the date
4667
B.C.
Atpagesri7,
118,
me
2, it
to
suppose that
seen
this constellation
was
then
first
At Plate XX.,
fact
may be
how 4667
B.C.
the figure
colure,
and
this
may
incline us to
so
often,
Heaven
was
to represent the
autumnal season in the mythologies of northern nations, appear in combat with, and temporarily triumphant over, the powers of light.
In favour of the high date here claimed for the imagining of
Orion's
figure
still
<Pi
^
names of the Nakshatra, which contains the i.e., the stars marking the head of Orion. p2 Orionis
"
stars,
verse
The Phainomena or " Heavenly Display by Robert Brown, Jun., F.S.A., line 401.
228
This Nakshatra
different
crit
known
in
quite
names
viz, Mrigasliirsha
The
Sans-
literally
"Wild
beast's head,"
and
B. G. Tilak, in his work. The Orion; or, Antiquity of the Vedas, basing his opinion upon many ingenious and recondite arguments, supposes that ancient Indian astrono-
which
trans-
head"
by an arrow
the
stars so well
known
to us as Orion's Belt.
it
meaning of "antelope": but Tilak expressly says at p. 97, "Though I have translated the word Mrigashiras by 'Antelope's head,' I do not mean to imply that Mriga necessarily
meant 'an antelope' in the Vedic literature." Again, at p. 151, he says "The word Mriga in the Rigveda, means according to Sayana both a lion and a deer." Again, as to the other name of the Nakshatra Agrahayani it In a has the meaning of "first-going" (of the sun) understood. long dissertation on this name, Tilak contends that it marked an important point in the annual course of the sun, and then further seeks to derive the Greek name Orion from the Sanscrit word, Agrahayani. Of the value of the etymological arguments advanced, I am quite unable to judge, but on astronomic grounds it would not seem an improbable derivation. But the acceptance of Tilak's contention as to the derivation of the name Orion would make it reasonable to suppose that not
:
only the
might,
in
name but
the
of the constellation
and
Indian nations,
and thus we should be more ready to beheve that Mrigashirsha referred to the lion's head on Orion's arm, and not to an "antelope's head" a head which, as depicted by Tilak at p. 100, would alone have filled nearly all the space in
resemble each other;
ORION, MRIGASHIRAS,
known
AGRAHAYANI
229
to us as Orion.
The
names,
ing and
they are followed, must lead us to attribute the imaginnaming of the constellation Orion to a time before that
when
here
made
for
and Indians went their separate and so will strengthen the claim the depicting of the constellation on the sky as
early as
4600
B.C.
It will
ing Hercules, Corona Australis, Hydra, and Orion, a change in the symbolic methods followed by earlier astronomers, 6000
B.C.,
must be supposed.
It
figures
there
mark
can,
seems to me, be
little
were
designed to
visibly,
A
4600
in fact,
seems
to manifest itself as
we
B.C.,
and
to this date I
would
astronomic myths of
many
nations.
PLATE
which seemed to
b.c.
XXI.^
In The Median Calendar and the Constellation Taurus I have Median and Assyrian
me
to lead to the conclusion that at very close attention was given to the
amongst the fixed stars, and that at that honour was given by the ancestors of the Medes the constellation which at the to the constellation Sagittarius spring equinox was in opposition to the sun, and therefore visible I need not here reiterate what was there all through the night. advanced on this point concerning Median and Assyrian symdate very special
Egyptian
is
art
draw attention to the existence and mythologic teaching of what I cannot but
desire to
now
think
speaking
in
round numbers
B.C.
be seen
at
and might even then, with almost equal right, have been claimed as adjoining those of Scorpio. We can well imagine that the astronomic school which carried out the reformation in
Sagittarius,
(pp. 222,227),
we can
well
school
admit the baleful image of Scorpio to take the post of leader But from 4000 B.C. of the year, so long held by Sagittarius.
onwards to 2000
1
B.C.
The
230
WATER-MAN
231
the equinoctial and solstitial colures, were Taurus, Scorpio, Leo, and Aquarius. Volumes of controversy have been written concerning the astronomic teachings of the ceilings of the temples of Denderah and Edfu, as to the position of the colures amongst the fixed
stars,
in
The
when
it
some to be about 4000 b.c, but was proved that these temples had been restored in
first
certainty be upheld.
strong
and
it
twelve-fold
division
European culture
into Egypt.
To
dis-
much
couraged attempt.
But
temples
if
is
In the Description de
rEgypte^ we
au Plafond de
rois."
on
on a
refer-
much
central
we
as
it
seems
to
Description de r Egypte,
lo
vols.,
Paris,
MDCCCXII.-XXIII., Vol.
I.,
THE BULL
ence to the four figures
(
APIS
233
Leo, and Aquarius
Taurus,
Scorpio,
= Amphora).
The monstrous hippopotamus and
crocodile here depicted
I
are,
am
strongly
inclined
to
believe,
representations,
not
of
any particular
but
rather
conof
stellation,
equinoctial
at
re-
except astronomically,
figures
lated
Bull,
Scorpion,
jar,
Lion, and
Waterin
evidence.
BULL APIS
" It was regarded as a
Isis,
Osiris, the
husband of
and next
tell
to
Grecian authorities
distinctive white
us that
;
some
markings
and on
its
back
be observed. From a drawing in we may, however, gather, as I think I have seen it elsewhere stated, that the Apis Bull was marked by equal areas of black and white. Such equal areas would fitly symbolize the equal day and night of the equinoctial season, and
figure of a scarabseus
was
to
I.,
p. 121,
the suggestion
made
at p.
would point
to the traditional
up and
Dan on
his return
from
234
Egypt.
feast
.
. .
PLATE XXI.
We
read in
i
Kings
xii.
32,
"And Jeroboam
ordained a
in
upon
had made
the
in
own
was that during which the sun traversed the constellation Scorpio, and during which Taurus was dominantly visible all night and when in this constellation the full moon of the fifteenth or festival day was to be observed. This mention of the eighth
month
in
In Median mythology and art we have seen the great importbut there is a wide difference between
:
Medes and the Egyptians. Mithras, Median sun-god, again and again triumphs over and slays the Bull. In Egypt, on the contrary, the Sacred Bull is honoured and worshipped during its lifetime, and reverently embalmed, and with all pomp and glory buried after its death.
the Tauric symbolism of the
This difference
in the
Media,
Taurus was
at
the spring
THE BULL
its
IN
EGYPT AND
IN
MEDIA
235
by
slain
overwhelming brightness;
In
same
when
the sun
set,
and
all
Median
is
art, it is
by the sun
bolism,
in the
it is
in springtime that
represented.
In Egyptian sym-
by night,
autumn
is
directed.
it is
interesting
Cambyses
in slaying the
Apis Bull,
at seeing the
him
god
the
Persian sun-
in the heavens,
by
tative, the
Apis Bull.
when Apis worship prevailed in when the children of Israel, in imitation of this worship, set up the golden calf in the wilderness, the raison d'itre for the honour paid to Taurus as a star mark of the autumnal season no longer existed for we know that about 1800 B.C., the equinoctial colure had left that constellation, and had entered the eastern degrees of the constellation Aries.
In the days of Cambyses,
still
Egypt, and
earlier
us,
dynasty
and Aquarius did actually preside over the four seasons of the year. Moretombs of kings over, the recent discoveries of the and other
Scorpio, Leo,
when Taurus,
personages, in the
first
remote
date
of
4000
when
the
very
earliest
observa-
above-named
constellations could
found
slate
slabs of various
it
in
their
general outline, as
236
form of a
jar or vase.
PLATE XXI.
In the accompanying cuts, a proposed
one of the
slates
is
given,
and is
finely
Both
by
The
subjects of the
the figure
and preparing
upper
human
foe.
many
attitudes,
and on one
is
slate,
where
below
in the
it
register this
triumphing bull
represented,
jar are to
slate,
and an urn or
On
another
on mace-heads and on
in
in the
great
numbers
in the excavations at
Hierakonpolis
the
site also
here described.
It is difficult, I
we have
in
and water
jars,
imagined under those forms, whose stars, at the date when these carvings were made, marked in conjunction
constellations, already
with,
year.'
1
and
in
opposition
to,
the sun,
the
four
seasons
of the
carved on
if not of all, of the slates under our notice, there is obverse a ring surrounding a depression. "Mr Quibell's
still
theory, which
is
adhered
to
by Professor
was
is
Egyptians painted their faces," but Mr Legge in his Paper, from which I have here quoted (contributed to the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archttology. May 1900, pp. 137, 138), puts forward a different view, which, if it is correct, would lend support to the astronomic interpretation above proposed
for
some
Mr Legge
CARVED SLATES
237
><>
en
(5,"^
T3
lU
T3
>
238
PLATE XXI.
represented the sun, and that " it is quite possible that this significance was heightened by the introduction of some bright substance, such as gold foil."
He points out that the composite monsters of the slates, all of which are represented on certain ivories, which he names, are always associated with the sundisk.
He
have above
PLATE
Grecian sphere
XXII.i
In Grecian legend Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, the seamonster (Cetus), and Perseus are associated together, and on the
five
we
some reason
may
make
us hesitate whether
we should not
at
constellation
Andromeda
an even
earlier
One
point in
the
namely, the
fact that
i.e.,
of tropical provenance.
i,
fig.
as far South as i8
early date of
N. could the
b.c.
figure of Cassiopeia
6000
even
at the
as that of a
queen
By
referring to Plate
in Lat. 45
N, at
would have appeared in the southern quarter of the sphere, head downwards, while the figure of Cepheus could only have been observed by turning first to one and then to the other quarter of the sky. As, however, the head of Cepheus would have marked so exactly the solstitial colure 6000 B.C., it seemed
that date, Cassiopeia
1
to
latitudes of
^
5744 B.C. Lat. 18 N., and of 3588 See below at p. 246, and pp. 242, 243.
B.C., Lat.
23 N.
239
240
to
PLATE
XXII.
me
only right to seek for a latitude in which his figure and that
heavens
latitude, therefore, in
which
it
might be possible to
To
it
was necessary to
To
human
seemed
if for
suppose
race,
at
6000
also
b.c.
but
of astronomical science
and
authority,
to
Moreover, even
instituting constella-
N. even
is
so, I
do not think
the
colure as
shown
in the
diagram
figure
considerably
Under
and therefore
in
an
the
year
counted from the entry of the sun into the constellation Aries.
fig.
2.)
Of
by the Accadian and Babylonian nations and by the Hindus down to the present
CASSIOPEIA
day, astronomic records
traditions also, as I
fore,
AND SEA-NYMPHS
refer to
it
:
241
testify.
have claimed,
need
to
not, there-
surprise
us
mark the
beginning of a year counted from that point, even at a date virhen this beginning did not coincide either with solstice or equinox.
3500
B.C. is
would suggest
in a latitude
The legend
nereids.
tells
own
or
She
is
"...
To
The
It
seems
to
me
many
others,
an
astronomic basis
may be
assigned.
3500
b.c.
The
stars of that
and
rival
may have
must here be noted. Aratos versified " the Fhainotne?ia of the astronomer Eudoxos, who lived cir. B.C. 403-350." It has often been pointed out that
constellation Cassiopeia
Eudoxos
record " are to a great extent traditional and archaic, and belong to another and far earlier epoch." What is said of Cassiopeia is a
case in point
;
and
its
punish-
ment
at line
654
Mihon,
// Penseroso.
242
"
PLATE XXn.
And now
she, too, her daughter's form pursues,
;
Sad Kassiepeia
nor seemly
like a
still
;
Show from
tumbler
sits
On
boasts to equal
Now in Eudoxos' time and in his latitude, though Cassiopeia's head did by a few degrees extend into the southern heavens, yet her position was not so deplorably ignominious as the poem would
Three thousand years earlier the pity for her expressed by Aratos would have been more appropriate, for then her whole figure for observers in lat. 35 N. would have been visible in the
suggest.
feet,
zenith.
These considerations may lead us to suppose that the idea of i.e., her reversed Cassiopeia's pride, and the fit punishment of it form in northern must have assumed position in the heavens,
latitudes almost at as early a date as the constellation figures were
first
imagined in tropical
If this
latitudes.
be
so,
it is
3500
B.C.
handed down
B.C.,
for
when
the
As
to
Andromeda, the
story describes
;
her as the
itself
have naarked
or of a non-solstitial
B.C.
The
and
terrible prevalence of
representation of a
human sacrifices in ancient times, may make us almost fear that the chained human victim had its place in the
(solstitial) date.
"
ANDROMEDA
The
staples to the sky.
6000
OR
3500 B.C.
243
They appear
(at fig. i) at
i.e.,
This may, of course, be a mere coincidence, and should not be allowed to weigh at all heavily in the almost evenly adjusted
balance of probabilities regarding the date of the origin of the
constellation
Andromeda.
Her
story
is
with that of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, but also with that of the sea-
as to
first
which these
figures
the
But we cannot
what was the longitude of the land Ethiopia proper, and parts of
these countries.
in opinion as to
embraces
what
Some
writers
have suggested
:
and
as
have
be
difficult to
propose a possible
the
name Andromeda,
is
though
not the
it
for this
name
and
might be that the constellation Andromeda Indian astronomers, represented merely a human
for ancient
sacrifice,
not that
244
PLATE
XXII.
Though in the woman, yet in it
to the sacrifice,
Rig Veda there is no legend of the sacrifice of a we meet with seven consecutive hymns referring
real or symbolical, of
rishi or sage,
who,
The
many
Two
other
hymns
in the
Rig Veda
ceremony
p.
give at
252
me
that the
winged steed
i.e.,
and not merely the praises of an earthly horse, are the subject of these two hymns. The ceremony in question bore the name of Aswamedha, literally Horse-Sacrifice.
In reading and comparing these two series of sacrificial hymns, some points of contact present themselves, and, observing
me that some Sanscrit word ending in Mcdha and conveying the meaning of huma?i sacrifice, might by ancient Indian astronomers have been attached to the constellation, which for us represents the hapless Andromeda for if we suppose that the constellations Cassiopeia and Cepheus were imagined in India, but adopted with an appropriate legend the names of the personages in the into the Grecian sphere legend at the same time suffering a Grecian change it would be
this,
it
occurred to
i.e.,
sacrifice,
name
of the constellation
came
to represent
human
sacrifice,
Whether these
fanciful speculations
the actors in the ancient legend be adopted or not need not affect
PLATE
The
probable dates for the
first
XXIII.i
imagining of four constellations
Centaur,
namely,
for
the
Ophiuchus,
Auriga,
in
suggested:
in
at that date
his
round numbers of 3500 B.C. (fig. huge figure would have well
marked,
year
;
opposition,
or, in
month
figure
:
of the
same
year.
It
is
who designed
this
N., as
shown
in
would then have been well above the horizon. The B.C. might perhaps be claimed for the Centaur. At that date, as I have assumed, the calendrical and (Compare Plate XVII. and Plate the solstitial year coincided. IX.) As between 6000 and 3500 B.C. I have often hesitated, but
constellation
earlier
much
epoch of 6000
on the whole
the
Fig.
2.
more probable.
Again
the
date
3500
B.C.
and
in
it
the latitude
would have
appeared
equinox
;
in opposition to the
sun
at the
namely, the
Although
at the
was not quite so commanding and years earlier (see Plate XIX.), yet thousand symmetrical as it was a XXIII., fig. 2) the heads of (Plate in the lower latitude given here
tion in the northern heavens
^
The
B.C.,
have been drawn from the globe adjusted to the Fig. 3, Figs, l and 2, 3589 B.C., Lat. 35 N.
1443 b.c, Lat. 40 N.
3050
Lat. 35 N.
Fig.
4,
245
246
PLATE
XXIII.
Hercules and of Ophiuchus would have been on the zenith, and one of them in the northern
in the
of winter and
darkness at the
B.C., for
have suggested the later date of 3000 then the bright star Capella, the most important star in
I
For Auriga,
in
the constellation and one of the brightest in that part of the sky,
and
in opposition
autumn
equinox.
The star Capella has, by several writers, been identified with the star " Icu of Babylon " mentioned in many of the Babylonian
astrological texts. If this
identification
of Babylon
we
ought, I suppose,
Auriga.
Fig. 4.
Unless we adopt
B.C. for
Cassiopeia,
will
on the authority of the Cepheus, and Andromeda legend the date 3500 for Perseus, it
much
fig.
later
one of 1433
At the
2
;
see
Plate XXII.,
visible in the
in
which the
been
fitted in, as
named
still
constellations, so that
whose strange alternations of magnitude may some malignant monster, was imagined by the astronomers who drew the figure of Perseus, as on the brow of the Gorgon Medusa. It
star Algol,
The
247
at the
ous star exactly marked the equinoctial meridian. The northern latitude 40 N., suitable for the imagining of this
constellation,
and
its
name
PLATE XXIV.
be seen that by consulting the precessional globe it has been possible to suggest dates at which the various simple and composite human figures, represented on the (Grecian) sphere
It
will
at
that
at
is
That many other of the remaining ancient constellations Canis Major and Canis Minor, Aquila, Cygnus, &c., were depicted
and named
very remote dates, there can,
traditions
I
think,
be
little
doubt.
The wide-spread
some
special season
than
their
culmination at
?ioo?i
or at mid-
the
them.
A
ing of
this
thought
some
marked by
bright stars.
I will
now
to Argo and Pegasus. (Astronomy in the Rig Veda) the almost upright and symmetrical position of Argo 3000 B.C. may suggest the likelihood that at that date or perhaps a few hundred years later, and in a latitude about 12 higher than that given in
tions of
wide extent
at
namely,
X.
Glancing
Plate
It will
be observed
and southern Canopus at 35 N. would have been above the horizon and visible at midnight of the winter solstice. At noon of the summer solstice
248
249
they would have been above the horizon, but invisible in conjunction with the sun.
downwards
even to
1903
The
sent living beings, it has been possible to find some season and some date at which they could have been observed upright in the sky, makes it a more imperative need to seek for some explanation of the anomalous treatment meted out by astronomers of old to the winged steed.
In
this
stress
of
difficulty,
first
venture to
make
a suggestion
fanciful,
this
which
book.
will, I fear, at
sight,
put forward in
My
and
suggestion
is
some astronomers of
old,
school.
If
on some
clear
for the
map
we may quickly recognise mark the corners of an almost square on the vault of heaven. Then
this
by four
exact and
stretching
still
square
farther
we may
which mark the neck, and the somewhat brighter star which marks the head of the Demi-Horse while starting from the upper western
:
still
and
to the west
we
mark
the
and the hoofs of Pegasus. If we allow the four stars of the " square of Pegasus " still to mark the body of the horse, and
fore legs
250
PLATE XXIV.
its
as
marking
still fit
its
fore legs
satisfactory result
its
be seen
in
course
rORE LEGS
THE SQUARE
OF
PEGASUS
WEST.
^^<
<>
AQUARIUS
But even
to arrive at so satisfactory a result,
its
There is, however, I think, in Grecian and in Vedic legend some support to be found for the opinion that the original position of Pegasus was upright and not reversed.
PEGASUS ALWAYS REVERSED
Though on
reversed,
251
on no artistic monument, vase, or coin is he thus represented, and in Grecian legend he is ever a glorious and highly-prized friend and helper of gods and heroes. Amongst other achievements, we read of him that he produced with a blow of his hoof
the inspiring fountain Hippocrene.
In the Rig
Aswins,
Veda we read of a swift horse, belonging to the who from his hoof filled a hundred vases of sweet liquor.
Miiller has pointed out that the
Max
called
Pagas.
The
stars
a and
/3
Arietis are in
Hindu
astro-
nomy
these stars in
and at p. 137 I have contended that Vedic times symbohsed the twin heroes, the Aswins,
Max
Miiller, of the
horse Pagas.
If
we look
appear,
at
how
closely following
we
shall easily
them the
Mandala
"
I.
Svikta cxvi.
and verse
7.
You
filled
if
from a
cask, a
hundred
of wine."
And again in the next hymn, cxvii. verse 6 " You filled for the (expectant) man a hundred
(liquors)
vases of sweet
fleet horse."
As Pegasus
(see Plate
now
his
But
if
we
depict
him
as suggested
above
in the
XXIV.),
252
I
PLATE XXIV.
have already alluded to the Aswamedha hymns
in the
Rig
Veda
an actual
quote
winged horse of
I will
in question
Mandala
"
I.
I,
Sukta
clxii.
Let neither
MITRA
nor
INDRA, RIBHUKSHIN,
we proclaim
"
2.
when
horse sprung
When
who
INDRA
and
is
PtlSHAN.
"
3.
PUSHAN,
fit
brought
with the
fleet
courser, so that
TWASHTRI
may
Looking
at Plate
XXIV.,
Figs,
i,
2,
the
and we
may understand
After
details
many
the
of
verses entering into minute and rather horrible "immolation" and even of the cooking of the
sacrificial
is one immolator of the radiant horse, which is and these words seem to carry us back from thoughts of an actual to a, in some way, symboHcal sacrifice, especially when
" There
"
;
Time
at verse 2
we read
253
art
this
moment thou
dost
not
die
nor
thou
harmed
The
(to
horses of
INDRA,
(to
Maruts
shall
be yoked
their cars),
and a courser
be placed
the
ASWINS
The
following
hymn
(Ixiii.) I
give in extenso
Mandala
1.
I.
Sukta
is
clxiii.
Thy
great
birth,
Horse,
to
be glorified; whether
first
as thou
TRITA
first
YAM A
INDRA
reins.
3.
GANDHARBA
seized
his
Vasus, you fabricated the horse from the sun. Thou, horse, art thou art A'DITYA
YAMA
:
thou art
TRITA
The
three
4.
by a mysterious act
SOMA.
;
They have
upon earth
;
and three
in the firmament.
Thou
declarest to
VARUNA,
that
most excellent birth. have beheld, Horse, these thy purifying (regions)
who
and
rite that
recognise in
my mind
off,
going from
(the
earth) below,
aloft,
head soaring
I
by way of heaven, to the sun. I behold thy and mounting quickly by unobstructed paths,
thy
unsullied by dust.
7.
behold
most
excellent
form
254
PLATE XXIV.
ant brings thee nigh to the enjoyment (of the provender), therefore greedy, thou devourest the fodder.
8.
The
follow thee
the loveliness
Horse of maidens
men
(waits)
attend thee
cattle
upon thee
troops
His mane
is
is
of gold
and
fleet
as
thought,
INDRA
to partake
of his
(being
offered
as)
The
full-haunched,
slender-waisted,
and
celestial
when
11.
Thy
body, horse,
is
;
made
for
motion;
thy
mind
is
rapid
in
wind the hairs (of thy mane) are tossed manifold directions and spread beautiful in the forests.
;
12.
The
led
swift
horse approaches
the
place
;
of immolation,
meditating with
him
is
mind intent upon the gods the goat bound to before him after him follow the priests and the
;
singers.
13.
The
:
horse
is
most
excellent
and
his
mother (heaven
and
earth).
sacrifice)
may
referring to Trita
this hymn, such as those in verse 3 and Soma, may suggest corroborative astronomic observations,^ but I would here especially refer to the description,
Many
passages
in
verse
i,
verse 6 to
the words,
aloft,
and in and
As
read these
hymns
'
255
nor
is
it is
at present depicted,
The Vedic
poet beheld his head soaring aloft, but in the " I have beheld Horse, those
.
"
;
and
if
were the
stars
I
head, but, as
have contended,
originally
marked
we
shall
and
identical
at the
season of the
in
summer
at its
full
the constellation
The
Pegasus
B.C.,
when
was so closely
of the
marked by
I
For the
B.C. is
first
more probable
XXIV.,
Figs,
2).
01
l-l
^^^
INDEX
Ab AB-GAR, 4
Abba uddu, 4
Abel, 164 Abhra, 113 Abib, 165, 166, 168, 170 Aboo Simbel, 39, 40, 41 Abraham, 167
Apam Napat, 126 Apin-am-a, 4 Apis Bull, 218, 233-235 Apollo, 156 Apollonius of Tyana, 97 Aptya. See Trita Aquarii ;8, 196 Aquarius, 9, 40, 44-47, 51-57, 66-70,
79, 80, 83, 123, 124, 129-132, 144, 174-179, 197, 199, 202, 209, 221-
Set Calendar
AchEemenid Idngs, 60, 73 See Aswini Afvini. Adar, Adaru, 2-6, 69 A'ditya, 253 Agane, 151
Agni, 125-131, 138, 140, 181, 183 Agrahayani, 228 Ahi, III. See Vritra
153, 172,
Aqrabu, 44
Aquila, 66-70, 80, 124, 248
Arakh-makru, 4 Arakh-samna, 2, 4
Aratos, 216, 224-227, 241, 242 Archer. See Sagittarius Arcitenens, 44
Argo, 248
Aries,
1-19, 24-44, 53-57, 92, 94, 104, 145-147, 170, 171, 186-190, 209, 210, 217, 218, 220, 224, 235,
Aitareya Brahmana, 140 Akiba, Rabbi, 163 Albumassar, 17, 18 Alexander, 25, gi, 103
Algol, 246
245. 251
Alphonsus, 23 Altair, 67
and /3, 94, 137, 251. Arsacidse, 4 Artemis, 156, 157, 160
Arietis a
142,
143,
Aru, 44
Amen, 32-41 Amen-Ra, 32-34, 39-41 Amon. See Amen Amphora, 44, 45, 67,
233> 236
Aryaman, 252
As
79, 204,
223,
Assur, 74-79,
83, 84,
86,
150-155,
227
Assurbanipal, 6, 69 Assyrian Standard, 77-80, 83, 86
267
258
Asteria, 179
INDEX
Calendar, Egyptian, 31, 34, 3S, 39 Grecian, 180 Gregorian, 193-196 Hebrew, 162-170, 234 Indian, 88, 92, 96, 104, 132-148, 167,171,176,181-184, 188,217 Lagash, 54, 57
Asura, 81,82,85,86, 112, 150-153, 182, 183 Asura maha, 153 Aswamedha, 244, 251 Aswini, 92-94, 104, 132, 134, 136148, 172, 181, 183, 187, 188, 210, 251. 253 Aswins, the. See Aswin! Atharva Veda, 94, 133, 136 Atri, 141, 181-184 Attic year, 180 Auriga, 245, 246 Ava, 85 Avesta. See Zend Avesta Ayu, 252
Roman,
Cambyses, 235
Cancer, 8, 36, 44, 218-221 Canis Major, 248 Canis Minor, 248
Canopus, 248
Capella, 246
Jean Silvain,
17,
29
Barrett, Dr, 222 Bar zig-gar, 4, 7, lo, 13-15, 53, 104, 165, 166, 171, 172
Caper, 44 Capricornus, 52, 218, 220, 222, 252 Capuja, 243 Cassiopeia, 239-244, 246 Cassyape, 243 Castor, 221, 222 Centaur, 155-158, 245 Cepheus, 239-244, 246 Cetus, 239-243
Chaitra, 134-138, 171, 172, 181, 188
Bel-Merodach, 69
Bi^lier.
See Aries Beltis, 16 Bentley, Mr, 100 Bergaigne, 140, 143 Berosus, 18, 83
Bethel, 233 Bible, the, 21, 84, 164-170
of,
197-209
Cook, 21 Corona Australis, 77, 229, 230 Crab. See Cancer Cumont, 61
Cuthah, 85 Cuzallu, 4 Cygnus, 248 Cyrannid books, 17
Cain, 164
Calendar, Accadian, 1-23, 57-58, 103, 145-147, 187, 208-210, 224 Babylonian, 1-3, 103, 165, 234 Chinese, 185-211
Dan, 233
Darmesteter, 60
INDEX
Deuteronomy, Devas, 82 Dhanus, 223 Dharbitu, 4
169, 170
259
Gir-tab, 8
Go, 113
Goat-fish, 8,
D'Herbelot, 18 Diana, 158 Dianus, 158 Doris, 242 Draco, 223 Dupuis, 27-29 Duzu, 2, 4 Dvita, 177-180
68
Griffiths, 31
Gu, 9, 44-47 Gudea, 48-57, 208, 209, 222 Gula, 9, 46-57. 69, 209
Gutiura, 81
Hamath,
Heb
85
3, 4, 6, 12,
Eagle,
64.
See Aquila
gammurabi,
Hecate, 179
83-85
en-ant, 35
Eden, 21, 22 Edfu, 232 Ekashtaka, 1 34 Ekata,' 177-180 Ekhud, 48 Elam, 81 ElUlla, 48
Elul, 2, S
Hermes, 17
Hercules, 226, 229, 230, 245, 246 Herodotus, 81 Hierakonpolis, 236 Hillebrandt, 122
Eninnu, 48 Enzu, 44
Hommel,
I- 10,
149- 151
44,
Horus, 33, 40 Hsia, 207 Hvarya, 1 50 Hydra, 1 17-123, 132, 227, 229
Icu, 246
Indra, 111-124, 130, 131, 138, 148, 172-183, 252-254
Equulei,
Innanna, 6 Innannanki, 5
Isaac, 167
Isis,
33
Istar, 4, 10,
84
Jacob, 167
Jana, 158 Janus, 158-160 Jemsheed, 58 Jensen, 45, 49, 5, 68, 102 Jeroboam, 233, 234 Jerusalem, 163 Jesuits, 194-196. 207 Tohnston, 40 Jones, Sir William, 89, 9, 95, 96 Josephus, 20, 169 Jupiter, 47, 103
26o
KailA^e, 158
Kaiomurs, 58
INDEX
Mars, 103
Maruts, I73-I75> '84, 252, 253
Kang,
186, 188
Maspero, 33, 49, 68, 69, 219 Ma^u, 44 Maut, 32, 33 Mayer, 102 Medusa, 246
Khophri, 220
Kou, 205
Krisnu, 125 Krishna, 182
Krittika, 94, 134, 136 Ku (sarikku), 44
Kumbha, 223
Lactantius, 23 Lagash, 4B-57, 68, 69, 208, 209, 222 Lajard, 63, 66 Latadeva, 98 Layard, 74, 77 Legge, Mr, 234 Legge, Professor, 197, 200, 207 Lehmann, 102 Leo, 44, 64-70, 79, 80, 83, 221, 232, 233, 235, 236 Libra, 44, 218-220 Lion. See Leo. Lugal-ki-uluna, 6
Lydda, 163 Lyra, 226
Nakshatra,
Nana, 6 Nekropolis, 35-37 Nicephorus, 23 Nile, 32, 35, 36, 37 Nineveh, 73, 74, 84, 86 Ningirsu, 48-51, 208
Ningiszida, 48 Ninib, 49-53, 208 Nisan, 2-19, 53, 69, 163-166 Nisannu. See Nisan
Macdonell,
Noah, 58
Noel, 205
Nowroose, 58-60
Manda.
See
Umman Manda
Oldenburg,
Olivet, 163
151, 152
INDEX
Oppert, 102 Orion, 157, 227-229
261
Ormuzd, 65
Osiride pillars, 40
Osiris, 33,
219
Ostia, 62
153,
171-
Pa, 44 Pagas, 251 Paitamaha, 98 Panchasiddhantika, 98 Pafii, 112 Panope, 242 Panvinius, Onuphrius, 23 Passover, The, 169, 170 Paulisa, 98
See Soma Pegasus, 244, 24S-255 Peking, 194, 195 Perrot and Chipiez, 64, 71, 73 Persepolis, 64, 70, 72-74, 86, 87 Perseus, 179, 239, 245-247
Romaka, 98
Roman
Rome,
year, 180
61, 172, 193
See Rishis
Pavamana.
Sabahu, 4 Sabatu, 2 Sabbath, 163, 169, 170 Sadducees, 169 Sagitta, 125
Sagittarius,
8, 76-83, 147, 150-160, 172-174, 220-223, 227, 230
Sam, 36
Samaria, 84, 85 Samaritan Pentateuch, 22
Petrie,
236
Samson Agonistes,
Samsu-iluna,
Sani, 96
3,
181
Phoenicians, 81
Pisces,
44,
80,
174,
177-179,
202,
Sara zig-gar, 4. See Bar zig-gar Sargon I., 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 16, 80,
81, 83, 151
Sargon
II.,
78
94
Sassinide dynasty, 60
Satapatha Brahmana, 141 Sater, 96 Saturn, 103 Saura, 98 Savitr, 140 Savitra, 98 Sayana, 228 Sayce, 7, 9, 46, 69, 81, 102
Scarabseus, 218, 220 Schall, J. A. von, 194, 195 Schlegel, Gustav, 185, 186, 190, 191,
204, 205 Scorpio, 8, 44, 63-67, 80, 221, 231-
QuiBELL, 236
Ram.
See Aries
236
Se-dir, 4, 13, 14, 146, 147 Se-ki-sil, 4, 13, 14, 146, I47
Seleucidte,
262
Semites, 83-85
INDEX
Theban Triad, The,
Thebes, 34 Thibaut, 98 Thor, 96 Thoth, 38, 39 Thraetona, 178 Thrita, 178
See
32, 33
39 Shou, 33 Shuddh Paksha, 182 Shukia, 182 Siddhantas, The, 98. Siddhanta
Surya
163
Simannu,
4 Sing-king, 186
2,
Tortoise, 8, 218 Trita Aptya, 175-181, 184, 253-255 Triton, 178, 179
108,
ni, 121-125,
131,
Tyana, 97
Udhar,
171,
113
1S8-190,
Ululu,
2,
210
Standard, Assyrian, 77-80, 83, 86 Strassmaier. See Epping Strauchius, 23 Sucra, 96 Suidas, 23 Su-kul-na, 4 Sunahsepas, 244 Suria, 150 Surias, 1 50 Surya, 182, 183 Surya Siddhanta, 90, 93, 98, 187 Susa, 70-73, 87 Swarbhanu, 182, 183
Syncellus, 17
Umman
Manda,
81-86, 151
Unger, 27
Universal History, 21 Ursa Major, 224 Usas, 139, 140 Usher, Archbishop, 21, 22 Utu, 5
Vadya Paksha,
182 Vala, 112 Valley, Feast of the, 36, 38 Varaha, 97-99 Varahamihira. See Varaha Varuna, 152-154, 252, 253 Vasistha, 98 Vasus, 253
Taurus,
154,
Vedas, 95, 106, 128. See Atharva Veda, Rig Veda, Yajur Veda Venus, 103 Verethraghna, 114 Verseau. See Aquarius Vierge. See Virgo Virgil, 159 Virginis a, 188
Virgo, 10, 28, 44, 80, 185, 186, 220, 221
INDEX
Vossius, Isaac, 23 Vrihaspati, 96 Vritra, 111-123, 14S, 177
263
94, 133-135
Vrtrahan, 114
stars,
142
Zamama, 69
Zend Avesta,
60, 113, 114, 178 Zeus, 70 Zib, 44 Zibanitu, 44 Zodiac, 2 et passim Zu, 69
Week, Days
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