{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_70052/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_70052","id":"gutenberg_70052","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70052","summary":null,"tags":["Astronomy, Ancient","Calendar","Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - Ancient","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Constellations"],"text":"Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\n  Texts _between underscores_ and =between equal signs= represents text\n  printed in italics and bold face in the source document. Superscript\n  characters have been transcribed as ^{x}. Small capitals have been\n  transcribed as ALL CAPITALS.\n\n  More Transcriber\u2019s Notes may be found at the end of this text.\n\n\n\n\n  ANCIENT CALENDARS\n  AND CONSTELLATIONS\n\n\n\n\n  ANCIENT CALENDARS\n  AND CONSTELLATIONS\n\n  BY THE HON. EMMELINE M. PLUNKET\n\n  WITH ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n  LONDON\n  JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.\n  1903\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe Papers here collected and reprinted, with some alterations, were\nnot originally written as a series; but they do, in fact, form one,\ninasmuch as the opinions put forward in each Paper were arrived at, one\nafter the other, simply by following one leading clue.\n\nThis clue was furnished by a consideration of statements made by\nProfessor Sayce in an article contributed by him in 1874 to the\n_Transactions of the Society of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology_.\n\nAt page 150 he thus wrote:--\n\n  \u201cThe standard astrological work of the Babylonians and Assyrians\n  was one consisting of seventy tablets, drawn up for the Library of\n  Sargon, king of Agane, in the 16th century B.C.\u201d\n\nAnd again at page 237:--\n\n  \u201cThe Accadian Calendar was arranged so as to suit the order of the\n  Zodiacal signs; and Nisan, the first month, answered to the first\n  Zodiacal sign. Now the sun still entered the first point of Aries at\n  the vernal equinox in the time of Hipparkhus, and it would have done\n  so since 2540 B.C. From that epoch backwards to 4698 B.C. Taurus,\n  the second sign of the Accadian Zodiac, and the second month of the\n  Accadian year, would have introduced the spring. The precession\n  of the equinoxes thus enables us to fix the extreme limit of the\n  antiquity of the ancient Babylonian Calendar, and of the origin of\n  the Zodiacal signs in that country.\u201d\n\nNot many years after this sentence had been penned, arch\u00e6ologists, as\nthe result of much evidence, came to the firm conviction that the date\nof Sargon of Agane was far earlier than had been at first supposed; and\nit was placed by them, not \u201cin the 16th century B.C.,\u201d but at the high\ndate of 3800 B.C.\n\nIt was in endeavouring to account for the choice by Accadian\nastronomers of Nisan as first month of the year, and of Aries as\nfirst constellation of the Zodiac, at a date when that month and\nconstellation could not have \u201cintroduced the spring,\u201d that a possible\nsolution of the difficulty presented itself to my mind--namely, the\nsupposition that the Accadian calendar had been originated when the\n_winter solstice_, not the _spring equinox_, coincided with the sun\u2019s\nentry into the constellation Aries. This coincidence took place, as\nastronomy teaches us, at the date, in round numbers, of 6000 B.C.\n\nIn the first Paper here reprinted this supposition was put forward; and\nin the course of following, as above stated, the clue afforded by it,\nthe various subjects discussed in successive Papers claimed always more\ninsistently my attention, as by degrees detached pieces of information\nconcerning the calendars of ancient nations came to hand, and fitted\nthemselves, like the pieces of a dissected map, into one simple\nchronological scheme.\n\nThe study of calendars marked by Zodiacal constellations necessitates\nan acquaintance with the position of those constellations as they\nwere to be observed through the many ages during which they held the\nimportant office of presiding over the year and its changing seasons.\nSuch acquaintanceship would have involved very careful and accurate\ncalculations were it not that, by the help of a precessional globe,\nit was possible by easy mechanical adjustment to _see_, without\nthe trouble of thinking them out, what were the changes produced\nin the scenery of nightly skies, millennium after millennium, by\nthe slow apparent revolution of the \u201cPoles of heaven\u201d through the\nconstellations--a revolution referred to by English astronomers as \u201cthe\nprecession of the equinoxes,\u201d and more graphically and epigrammatically\nby French astronomers as \u201cle mouvement des fixes.\u201d\n\nIn the second part of this book diagrams have been given, made from\na precessional globe, and in the explanatory notes which accompany\nthe Plates attention has been directed, not only to the chronological\nproblems which may be discussed with great advantage, as I believe, by\nthe help of such a globe, but also to various astronomical explanations\nof ancient myths which occurred to me in the course of studying the\nposition of Zodiacal and extra-Zodiacal constellations at different\nages of the world\u2019s history.\n\nI can only read Classic and Oriental myths in translations, and I feel\nvery sure that if any of the astronomic explanations here suggested\nfor ancient legends should prove to be the right ones, scholars versed\nin the original languages in which these legends were written, if they\nsupplement their linguistic knowledge by astronomic considerations,\nwill be able quickly and with ease to develop the suggested\nexplanations much further than it has been possible for me to do; and\nexplanations of other astronomic myths--astronomic, that is, and not\nmerely solar myths--will doubtless come to their minds as they follow\nsimilar lines of enquiry.\n\nThe steps by which travellers arrive at a far-reaching view are often\nvery steep and arduous. I fear that many readers of this book will find\nthe separate Papers in it dull and technical in themselves; but if they\nbe considered only as steep and roughly-cut steps leading up to vantage\npoints of chronological and historical observation, I believe that the\nruggedness of the path will soon be forgotten in the absorbing interest\nof the results to be obtained by following it.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  PART I\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n\n     I. THE ACCADIAN CALENDAR                                          1\n\n    II. THE CONSTELLATION ARIES                                       24\n\n   III. _GU_, ELEVENTH CONSTELLATION OF THE ZODIAC                    44\n\n    IV. THE MEDIAN CALENDAR AND THE CONSTELLATION TAURUS              56\n\n     V. ASTRONOMY IN THE RIG VEDA                                     88\n\n    VI. NOTES.--AHURA MAZDA, ETC.                                    149\n\n   VII. ANCIENT INDIAN ASTRONOMY                                     162\n\n  VIII. THE CHINESE CALENDAR, WITH SOME REMARKS WITH REFERENCE TO\n        THAT OF THE CHALDEANS                                        185\n\n\n  PART II\n\n  PLATES XV., XVI., XVII., AND XVIII.                                215\n\n  PLATES XIX., XX.                                                   226\n\n  PLATE XXI.                                                         230\n\n  PLATE XXII.                                                        239\n\n  PLATE XXIII.                                                       245\n\n  PLATE XXIV.                                                        248\n\n  INDEX                                                              257\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n  PLATE I.                                            _To face page_  13\n\n  PLATE II.                                                 \u201e         36\n\n  PLATE III.                                                \u201e         40\n\n  PLATE IV.                                                 \u201e         64\n\n  PLATE V.                                                  \u201e         70\n\n  PLATE VI.                                                 \u201e         74\n\n  PLATE VII.                                                \u201e         79\n\n  PLATE VIII.                                               \u201e         80\n\n  PLATE IX.                                                 \u201e        118\n\n  PLATE X.                                                  \u201e        121\n\n  PLATE XI.                                                 \u201e        124\n\n  PLATE XII.                                                \u201e        142\n\n  PLATE XIII.                                               \u201e        174\n\n  PLATE XIV.                                                \u201e        198\n\n  THE DID\u00db DRESSED                                            _Page_ 219\n\n  PORTION OF CEILING AT BYB\u00c2N EL MOLOUK               _To face page_ 233\n\n  BULL APIS                                                   _Page_ 233\n\n  OUTLINES OF TWO CARVED SLATES DRAWN FROM PLATES I.\n  AND III. IN _The Proceedings of the Society of\n  Biblical Arch\u00e6ology_ FOR MAY 1900                              \u201e   237\n\n  THE CONSTELLATION PEGASUS                                      \u201e   250\n\n  PLATE XV.                                                     _At End_\n\n  PLATE XVI.                                                       \u201e\n\n  PLATE XVII.                                                      \u201e\n\n  PLATE XVIII.                                                     \u201e\n\n  PLATE XIX.                                                       \u201e\n\n  PLATE XX.                                                        \u201e\n\n  PLATE XXI.                                                       \u201e\n\n  PLATE XXII.                                                      \u201e\n\n  PLATE XXIII.                                                     \u201e\n\n  PLATE XXIV.                                                      \u201e\n\n\n\n\nANCIENT CALENDARS AND CONSTELLATIONS\n\n\n\n\nPART I\n\n\nI\n\nTHE ACCADIAN CALENDAR\n\n  [Reprinted from the _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical\n  Arch\u00e6ology, January 1892_]\n\nEpping and Strassmaier, in their book _Astronomisches aus Babylon_,\nhave lately translated three small documents, originally inscribed on\nclay tablets in the second century B.C. From these tablets, we learn\nthat the Babylonians of the above date possessed a very advanced\nknowledge of the science of astronomy. Into the question of the extent\nof that knowledge we need not here enter further than to say that it\nenabled the Babylonian astronomers to draw up almanacs for the ensuing\nyear; almanacs in which the eclipses of the sun and moon, and the times\nof the new and full moon, were accurately noted, as also the positions\nof the planets throughout the year. These positions were indicated by\nthe nearness of the planet in question to some star in the vicinity\nof the ecliptic, and the ecliptic was portioned off into twelve\ngroups, coinciding very closely in position and extent with the twelve\ndivisions of the Zodiac as we now know them.\n\nAs to the calendar or mode of reckoning the year, we find that the\norder and names of the twelve months were as follows: Nisannu (or\nNisan), Airu, Simannu, D\u00fbzu, Abu, Ul\u00fblu, Tischritu, Arah-samna,\nKislimu, Tebitu, \u0160ab\u00e2tu, Adaru.\n\nOf these months Ul\u00fblu and Adaru could be doubled as Ul\u00fblu Sami (the\nsecond Elul), and Adaru Arki (the last Adar). The Babylonian years were\nsoli-lunar: that is to say, the year of twelve lunar months, containing\nthree hundred and fifty-four days, was bound to the solar year of three\nhundred and sixty-five days by intercalating, as occasion required, a\nthirteenth month.\n\nOut of every eleven years there were seven with twelve months, and four\nwith thirteen months. The first day of the year being, like some of our\nchurch festivals, dependent on the time of the new moon, was \u201cmoveable\u201d\n(_schwankende_). The year, according to the tablets before Epping and\nStrassmaier, \u201c_began with Nisan, hence in the spring_.\u201d[1]\n\n  [1] \u201cWas den Anfang des Jahres betrifft, so haben wir schon gezeigt,\n  das die seleucidische Aera, wie sie in unseren drei Tafeln vorliegt,\n  ihre Jahre mit dem Nisan, also im Fr\u00fchjahr begann.\u201d (Epping and\n  Strassmaier, _Astronomisches aus Babylon_, p. 181).\n\nThis is a sketch of the Babylonian calendar in the second century B.C.,\nas drawn from the work of the two learned Germans above-named.\n\nNow we find in the British Museum a great number of trade documents\nwhich, according to the Catalogue, \u201ccover a period of over two thousand\nyears.\u201d There are \u201ctablets of the time of Rim-sin, \u1e2aammurabi, and\nSamsu-iluna; tablets of the time of the Assyrian supremacy, of the time\nof the native kings, and of the time of the Persian supremacy; tablets\nof the times of the Seleucid\u00e6, and the Arsacid\u00e6.\u201d[2]\n\n  [2] See _Guide to the Nimroud Central Saloon_, B.M., 1886. The dates\n  of the rulers mentioned are as follows:--\n\n  Rim-sin, about 2,300 B.C.\n\n  \u1e2aammurabi, about 2,200 B.C.\n\n  Samsu-iluna, about 2,100 B.C.\n\n  Assyrian supremacy from about 1275 to 609 B.C.\n\n  The latest tablet in the collection is dated, according to the\n  Catalogue, 93 B.C.\n\nThese documents are all dated in such and such a month of such and such\na year of some king\u2019s reign; the months are the same (at first under\ntheir earlier Accadian names[3]) as those we find in the almanacs\ntranslated by Epping and Strassmaier, and we meet in them, and in\nother historical inscriptions, with the intercalary months, the second\nElul, and the second Adar. It would seem, then, that it was the same\ncalendar, worked in the same way, that held its place through these two\nthousand years.[4]\n\n  [3] ASSYRIAN. ACCADIAN MONTH NAMES, AND TRANSLATIONS.\n\n   1. Ni\u2019sannu,            { _Sara_ (or _Bar_) _zig-gar_ (\u201cthe\n                           { sacrifice of righteousness\u201d).\n   2. Airu,                  _Khar-sidi_ (\u201cthe propitious bull\u201d).\n   3. \u2019Sivanu, _or_ Tsivan,{ _Mun-ga_ (\u201cof bricks\u201d), and _Kas_ (\u201cthe\n                           { twins\u201d).\n   4. Duzu,                  _Su kul-na_ (\u201cseizer of seed\u201d).\n   5. Abu,                   _Ab ab-gar_ (\u201cfire that makes fire\u201d).\n   6. Ul\u00fblu,                 _Ki Gingir-na_ (\u201cthe errand of Istar\u201d).\n   7. Tasritu,               _Tul-cu_ (\u201cthe holy altar\u201d).\n   8. Arahk-samna (\u201cthe    }\n      8th month\u201d),         } _Apin-am-a_ (\u201cthe bull-like founder?\u201d).\n   9. Cisilivu, _or_      }  _Gan ganna_ (\u201cthe very cloudy\u201d).\n      Cuzallu,            }\n  10. Dharbitu,              _Abba uddu_ (\u201cthe father of light\u201d).\n  11. \u0160abahu,                _As a-an_ (\u201cabundance of rain\u201d).\n  12. Addaru,                _Se-ki-sil_ (\u201csowing of seed\u201d).\n  13. Arakh-makru (\u201cthe   }\n      incidental month\u201d), }  _Se-dir_ (\u201cdark [month] of sowing\u201d).\n\n  --_Records of the Past_, vol. i. p. 166.\n\n  [4] As evidence of the antiquity of a fixed calendrical method\n  of counting the year, and of a method closely resembling, if not\n  identical with, that used in the latest periods of Babylonian\n  history, the importance and trustworthiness of these documents can\n  scarcely be over-rated. They were inscribed on soft clay (which was\n  afterwards baked either by sun or fire), many of them four thousand\n  years ago. No correction or erasure can have been made in them since\n  that date. A translation of one of these tablets as given at p. 75\n  in the _Guide to the Nimroud Central Saloon_, is here given as an\n  example of the style of many others.\n\n  \u201cNo. 3. Tablet and outer case inscribed with a deed of partnership or\n  brotherhood between Sini-Innanna and Iriba^{m}-Sin.\n\n  \u201cTablet. \u1e62ini-Innanna and Iriba^{m}-Sin made brotherhood; they\n  took a judge for the ratification, and went down to the temple of\n  the sun-god, and he answered the people thus in the temple of the\n  sun-god: \u2018They must give Arda-lu\u0161t\u00e2mar-\u0160ama\u0161 and Antu-li\u0161limam, the\n  property of Iraba^{m}-\u0161in, and \u00c2rdu-ib\u0161\u00eenan and Antu-am-anna-lamazi,\n  the property of \u1e62ini-Innanna.\u2019 He proclaimed [also] in the temple\n  of the sun-god and the moon-god: \u2018Brother shall be kind to brother;\n  brother shall not be evil towards, shall not injure, brother; and\n  brother shall not harbour any angry thought as to anything about\n  which a brother has disputed.\u2019\n\n  \u201cThey have invoked the name of Innannaki, Utu, Marduk,\n  Lugal-ki-u\u0161una, and the name of \u1e2aammurabi [K\u00eemta-rapa\u0161tu] the king.\u201d\n\n  Here follow the names of eight witnesses. The translation of the\n  inscription on the outer case is much to the same purpose, and need\n  not here be quoted; the names of nine witnesses are appended to it.\n  The _Guide_ continues, after some other explanations, as follows:\n\n  \u201cThe whole of the first paragraph (except a few ideographs) is in\n  Semitic Babylonian. The invocation is in Akkadian. The list of\n  \u2018witnesses,\u2019 again, is in Semitic Babylonian, _and the date in\n  Akkadian_.... The tablet is dated in the same way as the other\n  documents of this class: \u2018Month Adar of the year when \u1e2aammurabi the\n  king made (images of) Innanna and Nan\u00e2.\u2019\u201d\n\nBut, further, there are astrological works copied for the library of\nAssurbanipal from ancient Babylonian originals. The compilation of many\nof these originals is placed by scholars in the reign of Sargon of\nAccad,[5] at the remote date of 3,800 B.C.\n\n  [5] Sargon I. of Accad was of Semitic race. He was established\n  as ruler in the city of Accad, and there reigned over a great\n  non-Semitic race, in ancient cuneiform inscriptions styled the\n  _Accadai_ (Accadians). This word, as scholars tell us, carried the\n  meaning of \u201chighlanders,\u201d or \u201cmountaineers.\u201d From this fact it is\n  inferred they were not indigenous to the low plain surrounding the\n  city of Accad, to which they gave their name. Their language contains\n  few words for the productions of the almost tropical climate of\n  Babylonia, but it shows familiarity with those of higher latitudes.\n  At the time when Sargon, either by peaceful or warlike arts, was\n  established as ruler over the Accadians, they were already a very\n  highly civilized people. They possessed a literature of their own,\n  which embraced a wide variety of subjects. The learning of the\n  Accadians was highly esteemed, and translations into the Semitic\n  language were made of important religious and scientific Accadian\n  works. These works, down to the latest days of Babylonian power,\n  were preserved and venerated, and many copies of them were made and\n  preserved in public libraries in Babylonia and Assyria.\n\n  The Accadian after Sargon\u2019s date gradually dropped out of general\n  use, and became a \u201clearned\u201d language, holding amongst Babylonians and\n  Assyrians much the same position as Latin and Greek amongst Europeans.\n\nIn these ancient astrological works, the same calendar referred to\nin the trade documents, and in the late Babylonian almanacs, appears\nto obtain. We find in them the same year of twelve lunar months,\nreinforced at intervals by a thirteenth intercalated month, and, which\nis very important, the order of the months is always the same. Nisan\n(Accadian Barzig-gar), everywhere appears as \u201cthe first month,\u201d and is\ndistinctly stated to be \u201cthe beginning of the year.\u201d[6]\n\n  [6] See _Transactions of the Society of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology_, 1874.\n  Paper entitled, _The Astronomy and Astrology of the Babylonians_,\n  Prof. Sayce, p. 258, W.A.I. iii. 60.\n\nAs early as the year 1874, Professor Sayce pointed out that there\nwas good reason for supposing that the twelve Babylonian months\ncorresponded to the twelve divisions of the Zodiac. At page 161 of his\nPaper, _The Astronomy and Astrology of the Babylonians_, we read: \u201cNow\na slight inspection of the calendar will show that the Accadian months\nderived their names from the signs of the Zodiac.\u201d\n\nHe then proceeds to discuss and compare the meanings of the Accadian\nand Semitic month names, and to point out those in which a reference to\nthe Zodiac might most clearly be traced.\n\nThat the constellations of the Zodiac were from a remote age recognized\nby the dwellers in Mesopotamia is scarcely to be doubted. We find on\nthe boundary stones in the British Museum _representations_ of several\nof their figures. The Bull, the Tortoise (in lieu of the Crab), a\nfemale figure with wings, the Scorpion, the Archer, and the Goat-fish,\nare all portrayed, not only on boundary stones, but also on cylinder\nseals and gems.\n\nAgain, in the old astrological works, we find _mention_ of the Scorpion\n\u201cGir-tab,\u201d and of the Goat-fish \u201cMuna-xa,\u201d and as planets are said to\n\u201capproach to,\u201d and \u201clinger in,\u201d the stars of Gir-tab and of Muna-xa, it\nmay well be supposed that they were the Zodiacal constellations still\nrepresented under the forms of Scorpion and Goat-fish.\n\nOut of the many star-groups mentioned in the old tablets, only a few\nhave as yet been certainly identified with their modern equivalents. As\nto the identity of others, we may guess. For instance, when it is said\n\u201cMercury[7] lingered in the constellation Gula,\u201d we may guess that Gula\nrepresents Aquarius, which sign in the Epping and Strassmaier tablets\nfigures as \u201cGu.\u201d\n\n  [7] _Infra_, p. 47, note.\n\nFrom all these sources of information, we gather that the twelve\ndivisions of the ecliptic had been mapped out at the time the\nastrological works were drawn up, and that some (at least) of these\ndivisions corresponded exactly to those now represented on celestial\nglobes.\n\nThe suggestion, therefore, put forward by Professor Sayce and other\nscholars, that the twelve Accadian months corresponded to the twelve\nconstellations of the Zodiac, and that we may trace a resemblance\nin some instances between the name of the month in the old Accadian\nlanguage and the constellation into which the sun at that time of the\nyear entered, is not in itself improbable.\n\nThe following months are those in which this resemblance is very\nstriking:\n\n1st month, Bar zig-gar (\u201cthe sacrifice of righteousness\u201d), Aries.\n\n2nd month, Khar-sidi (\u201cthe propitious bull\u201d), Taurus.\n\n3rd month (sometimes called) Kas (\u201cthe Twins\u201d), Gemini.\n\n6th month, Ki Gingir-na (\u201cthe errand of Istar\u201d), Virgo.\n\nWe know from the Epping and Strassmaier tablets as a matter of fact,\nthat the months and the constellations of the Zodiac _did_ in the\nsecond century, B.C., correspond with each other in order and sequence\nas above suggested, and if further research should establish the fact\nthat they so corresponded in Sargon\u2019s time, then as we find Nisan (Bar\nzig-gar) throughout all these ages holding the place of \u201cfirst month,\u201d\nand marking \u201cthe beginning of the year,\u201d it will necessarily follow\nthat the Accadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian calendars dealt with a\n_sidereal_ and not a _tropical_ year.\n\nOurs is a _tropical_ year, that is to say, according to the Julian\ncalendar (afterwards amended by Pope Gregory) it is bound to the\n_seasons_, and its months maintain a constant relation to the four\ngreat divisions of the ecliptic, _i.e._ the solstices and the\nequinoxes. The winter solstice always falls about the 22nd of December,\nthe spring equinox about the 21st of March, the summer solstice about\nthe 21st of June, and the autumnal equinox about the 23rd of September.\n\nBut (as has been suggested) the Accadian year was a _sidereal_\nyear, and its months maintained a constant relation to the twelve\n_star-marked_ divisions of the ecliptic, or, as they are called, the\nconstellations of the Zodiac. Nisan always corresponded (as closely as\na lunar month might) to the time during which the sun traversed the\nconstellation Aries; Airu to the time during which it traversed the\nconstellation Taurus; and so on through the twelve months of the year.\n\nThe equinoctial points are, however, always, though slowly, changing\ntheir position amongst the twelve constellations of the ecliptic. The\nmonths, therefore, which in 3,800 B.C., and still in the second century\nB.C., corresponded to the same star-groups, as above noted, must have\nheld in different ages very different positions in regard to the four\ngreat divisions or _seasons_ of the year.\n\nWe find in the tablets translated by Epping and Strassmaier the year\n\u201c_beginning with Nisan, hence in the spring_,\u201d and this seems a more\nor less natural season from which to count the year; but when, taking\nthe precession of the equinoxes into account, we find that the year in\n\u1e2aammurabi\u2019s time (2,200 B.C.) must have commenced one month, and in\nSargon\u2019s time (3,800 B.C.) two months before the spring equinox, we\nfeel surprised and perplexed to find that the year must then have begun\nwithout any reference to the seasons--the four great and most easily\nobserved divisions of the ecliptic.\n\nIt is difficult to imagine that the astronomers who so skilfully\ndivided the ecliptic into its twelve parts, and who originated the\nwonderful Accadian calendar--a calendar so well thought out that,\nas we have seen reason to believe, it resisted all the shocks of\ntime for nearly four thousand years--it is difficult to imagine that\nsuch astronomers should have taken no note of the four prominent\ndivisions of the year and of the ecliptic, _i.e._ the solstices and the\nequinoxes.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE I.\n\nFIG. 1.\n\nFIG. 2.\n\nThe first and last months of the Accadian, sidereal, year, compared\nwith the months of the Gregorian, tropical, year: at 6,000 B.C. and at\n600 A.D.\n\n[_To face p. 13._]\n\nThere is, however, a way to account for this anomaly, or, rather, there\nis a supposition which, if adopted, will allow these astronomers of old\nto have taken note, not only of the _months_, but also of the _seasons_\nof the year, when first they drew up their mighty scheme.\n\nLet us suppose that the calendar which, as we may learn from the\nastrological tablets, was already in Sargon\u2019s time a well known and\nvenerated institution, had been originally drawn up at a date much\nearlier than Sargon\u2019s, when the first month (Bar zig-gar), was not\nthe first _spring_ month, but when it was the first _winter_ month\nof the year. This date (see Plate I., fig. 1) would have been about\n6,000 B.C.; for then the sun entered the constellation Aries at the\n_winter solstice_--a season equally well, if not better suited than\nthe spring equinox to hold the first place in the calendar.[8] Under\nthis supposition, it would no longer be difficult to imagine why the\nancient Accadian astronomers should have chosen Aries as the first\nconstellation of the Zodiac, and Nisan (Bar zig-gar) as the first\nmonth, and the \u201cbeginning of the year.\u201d\n\n  [8] After this paper had appeared in the _Proceedings of the Society\n  of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology_, a corroboration of this opinion occurred to\n  the writer\u2019s mind, suggested by a further study of the month names in\n  the Accadian calendar. It is as follows:--\n\n  The twelfth month is named \u201csowing of seed.\u201d Seed may be and is,\n  sown in many latitudes in _spring_, and also in _winter_ time.\n  \u201cSowing of seed\u201d might therefore describe a month at the ending of\n  an equinoctial or of a solstitial year: but the thirteenth (_i.e._\n  the occasionally intercalated) month is named that of \u201cdark sowing.\u201d\n  This epithet _dark_, added to the \u201csowing\u201d of the twelfth month, very\n  plainly points to a solstitial or midwinter ending of the year.\n\n  The thirteenth month in a luni-solar year, whose beginning should be\n  bound to the vernal equinox, must always cover some of the concluding\n  days of March and some of the first days of April; and those days\n  are certainly much _lighter, not darker_ than those of the preceding\n  month, covering parts of February and March, whereas, the thirteenth\n  intercalary month in a luni-solar year, whose beginning should be\n  bound to the winter solstice, must always cover the concluding days\n  of December and those at the beginning of January; and might well be\n  distinguished by the epithet _dark_, not only from the days of the\n  preceding month, but indeed from those of any other month of the year\n  (see Plate I., figs. 1, 2.)\n\n  It is of interest here to note that this insistence in Accadian\n  month nomenclature on the darkness of the thirteenth month, tends to\n  confirm the already formed opinion of scholars, that the Accadians\n  were not indigenous to Babylonia, but had descended into it from more\n  northern latitudes, where darkness is a more marked concomitant of\n  winter than in the nearly tropical latitude of Babylonia.\n\nNor need we throw discredit on the early calendar makers 6,000 B.C.,\nif we take for granted that they were not acquainted with the fact that\nslowly but inevitably the seasons must change their position amongst\nthe stars, and that, not knowing this, they believed that in making\nthe _beginning of the year_ dependent on the sun\u2019s entry into the\n_constellation Aries_, they were also binding it to the _season of the\nwinter solstice_.\n\nAs centuries rolled by, however, and slowly the stars of Aries receded\nfrom the winter solstice, Bar zig-gar was no longer the first month in\nthe sense of being the first winter month. Still, the authority of the\noriginators of the calendar held sway; provision had been only made for\ncounting the year as a sidereal year; and Bar zig-gar, or the month\nin which the sun entered Aries, was still called the first month, and\nlooked on as the beginning of the year.\n\nTo carry out the reformation of any long established calendar is, we\nknow, not a trifling undertaking. Even on secular grounds, any proposed\nreform encounters strong opposition. But the calendar in Babylonia was\nnot only a civil, it was also a religious, institution. Its origin\nwas attributed to the Creator, and as the work of the Creator, it is\ndescribed in one of the old Babylonian tablets.[9]\n\n  [9] _Records of the Past._ New series. Vol. i. p. 145.\n\n\u201cFor each of the twelve months HE fixed three stars\u201d (or groups of\nstars). \u201cFrom the day when the year issues forth to the close.\u201d[10]\n\n  [10] In modern works we find the terms \u201cuseless,\u201d \u201cfanciful,\u201d and\n  \u201cinconvenient,\u201d applied to the Zodiac and its constellations; and for\n  regulating a tropical year the constellations _are_ \u201cuseless\u201d and\n  \u201cinconvenient,\u201d but the theory that the reckoning of the year and all\n  its religious festivals depended on the observance of the Zodiacal\n  star-groups, would help to account for the widely spread veneration\n  in which they were held throughout so many ages and by so many\n  nations.\n\nThe astronomical and astrological texts drawn up for Sargon of Accad\nare entitled \u201cThe Illumination of Bel,\u201d[11] and still as late as the\nsecond century B.C., all Babylonian almanacs bore the heading: \u201cAt the\ncommand of my Lord Bel and my Lady Beltis, a decree.\u201d[12] Thus it was,\nwe may suppose, that under the protection of the gods the Accadian\ncalendar continued unchanged throughout all the changing ages.\n\n  [11] _Transactions of the Society of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology_, 1874, pp.\n  150, 151.\n\n  [12] Epping and Strassmaier, _Astronomisches aus Babylon_, p. 161.\n  (_Auf Geheiss von Bel und Beltis meiner Herrin, eine Entscheidung._)\n\nBut during all the ages the winter solstice moved on steadily through\nalmost a quarter of the great circle of the ecliptic,[13] and in the\nsecond century B.C., the _spring equinox_ was not far from the same\npoint of the star-marked ecliptic where the _winter solstice_ had been\nwhen first the calendar-makers had \u201cfixed\u201d the constellations \u201cfor the\ntwelve months from the day when the year issues forth to the close,\u201d\nand we who now read the almanacs drawn up at that late period of\nBabylonian history are not (as has been said above) surprised to find\nthe year \u201c_beginning with Nisan, hence in the spring_.\u201d (See Plate I.,\nfig. 2.)\n\n  [13] This moving of the equinoctial point through a _quarter_ of the\n  great circle may perhaps explain the tradition to which Syncellus\n  twice alludes, once when he states that Eusebius was aware of the\n  Greek opinion that many ages, or rather myriads of years had passed\n  since the creation of the world, _during the mythical retrograde\n  movement of the Zodiac, from the beginning of Aries, and its return\n  again to the same point_ (_Chronographia_, p. 17.)\n\n  And again at p. 52, he refers to \u201cthe return of the Zodiac to its\n  original position, according to the stories of the Greeks and\n  Egyptians, that is to say, the revolution from one point back again\n  to the same point, which is the first minute of the first division\n  of the equinoctial sign of the Zodiac, which is called \u03ba\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 (Aries)\n  by them, as has been stated in the _Genica_ of Hermes and in the\n  Cyrannid books.\u201d\n\n  He goes on to say that this is the ground of the chronological\n  division of Claudius Ptolemy.\n\n  Jean Silvain Bailly, speaking of the Indian Zodiac, the beginning of\n  which is placed by the Brahmins at the first point of Aries, suggests\n  that a similar tradition may have prevailed amongst the Indians and\n  other ancient nations to account for the pre-eminence so generally\n  accorded to Aries. He says:\n\n  \u201cMais pourquoi ont-ils choisi cette constellation pour la premi\u00e8re?\n  Il est \u00e9vident que c\u2019est une affaire de pr\u00e9jug\u00e9 et de superstition;\n  le choix du premier point dans un cercle est arbitraire. Ils auront\n  \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9cid\u00e9s par quelque ancienne tradition, telle par example que\n  celle que Muradi rapporte d\u2019apr\u00e8s Albumassar et deux anciens livres\n  \u00e9gyptiens, o\u00f9 on lisoit que le monde avoit \u00e9t\u00e9 renouvell\u00e9 apr\u00e8s le\n  d\u00e9luge lorsque le soleil \u00e9toit au 1\u00b0 du b\u00e9lier, r\u00e9gulus \u00e9tant dans\n  le colure des solstices. D\u2019Herbelot ne parle point de r\u00e9gulus; mais\n  il dit que selon Albumassar les sept plan\u00e8tes \u00e9toient en conjonction\n  au premier point du b\u00e9lier lors de la cr\u00e9ation du monde. Cette\n  tradition, sans doute fabuleuse, qui venoit des m\u00eames pr\u00e9jug\u00e9s que\n  celle de B\u00e9rose, \u00e9toit asiatique. Elle a pu suffire, ou telle autre\n  du m\u00eame genre, pour fonder la pr\u00e9f\u00e9rence que les brames, ou les\n  anciens en g\u00e9n\u00e9ral, ont donn\u00e9e \u00e0 la constellation du b\u00e9lier, en\n  l\u2019\u00e9tablissant la premi\u00e8re de leur zodiaque. Ils ont cru que ce point\n  du zodiaque \u00e9toit une source de renouvellement, et ils ont dit que\n  le zodiaque et l\u2019ann\u00e9e se renouvelloient au m\u00eame point o\u00f9 le monde\n  s\u2019\u00e9toit r\u00e9g\u00e9n\u00e9r\u00e9.\u201d (Bailly, _Histoire de l\u2019Astronomie Ancienne_, pp.\n  482, 483.)\n\nThe propositions contained in this Paper are these:--\n\nI. The Accadian year was counted as a sidereal year.\n\nII. The Accadian calendar was first thought out and originated at a\ndate not later than 6,000 B.C.\n\nThe first proposition is founded on the opinion, long ago expressed\nby many Oriental scholars, that the Accadian months corresponded in\nvery early ages with the constellations of the Zodiac, Nisan--the\nmonth during which the sun was in conjunction with the constellation\nAries--holding the first place then, as also in the latest times of\nBabylonian history, and, presumably, through the intervening period.\n\nBut even if the first proposition is granted, the second, it must be\nconfessed, is only an opinion based on the unlikelihood that the old\nAccadian and sidereal year, otherwise so skilfully dealt with in the\ncalendar, should have begun, in what would appear to be a haphazard\nmanner, at no definite season of the year.\n\nIt may seem that too much weight has been attached in this Paper to\nwhat can only be called a guess; but where there is so much that we\ndesire to know, and so little as yet absolutely known of the early\nhistory of astronomy, the temptation to make such guesses is great.\n\nIt is to their earliest heroes and to their gods that the ancient\nheathen nations attributed the invention of astronomy, and amongst the\nJews also, according to Josephus, the children of Seth were looked\nupon as being the first teachers of the science.[14]\n\n  [14] _Antiquitates Judaic\u00e6_, I. 2, \u00a7 3.\n\nModern astronomers often speak in general terms of their science as\nhaving existed in a \u201choar antiquity,\u201d and in \u201cprehistoric times.\u201d But\nquestions as to when, and where it took its rise, are still unanswered.\nDuring the last hundred years these questions have been keenly\ndiscussed. Babylon, Egypt, Greece, India, and China, have each been\nclaimed as \u201cthe cradle\u201d of the science. Some few writers (and prominent\namongst them Jean Silvain Bailly, a brilliant scholar and an eminent\nastronomer) have contended for the view that not by any one nation were\nthe chief advances in astronomy made, but that before the great races\nof mankind separated from the parent stock, and spread themselves over\nthe globe, the phenomena of astronomy had been closely observed, and\nscientific methods for measuring time had been adopted. Bailly speaks\nof \u201cune astronomie perfectionn\u00e9e,\u201d of which only \u201cles d\u00e9bris\u201d are to be\nmet with in possession of the civilized races of antiquity. He claims\nan antediluvian race as the originators of astronomic science.\n\nIt may seem a bold suggestion to place the formation of the calendar\nat a date so high as 6,000 B.C., a date exceeding as it does by 2,000\nyears that given to us in the margin of our Bibles for the story of the\nfall of man and his expulsion from Eden. It was in following Archbishop\nUsher\u2019s calculations that the date of 4,004 was adopted and placed,\nwhere it still remains, in our English Bibles. But the difficulty of\ndetermining the early dates of Bible history has always been felt to be\nvery great, and \u201cit is quite possible to believe that Genesis gives us\nno certain data for pronouncing on the time of man\u2019s existence on the\nearth.\u201d[15] Scholars, in basing their calculations on the authority of\nScripture, have arrived at very different conclusions. Some only demand\n3,616, others 6,984 years, as required from Scriptural sources for \u201cthe\nyears of the world to the birth of Christ.\u201d[16]\n\n  [15] Introduction to the Pentateuch, by E. Harold Browne, D.D.,\n  Bishop of Ely. Holy Bible, with Commentary, edited by F. C. Cook,\n  M.A., Canon of Exeter.\n\n  [16] The following extracts are taken from the Preface to _An\n  Universal History from the Earliest Account of Time to the Present:\n  Compiled from Original Authors [Etc.]. Dublin: Printed by Edward Bate\n  for the Editors: M,DCC,XLIV._\n\n  They are interesting as showing that even before arch\u00e6ological\n  research had extended the limits of ancient history, as it has done\n  during the last fifty years, many biblical scholars assigned a far\n  higher date than Archbishop Usher\u2019s 4,004 years for the history of\n  Adam\u2019s race on earth.\n\n  P. lxv. _et seq._: \u201cSo that on a strict view and due examination\n  of the antiquities of nations, and the records that have been left\n  us, those of the Jews, exclusive of their divine authority, will\n  evidently appear to be the most certain and authentick.... However\n  it must be confessed that there is no certain uniformity in the\n  Jewish computation, and that the several copies of their records,\n  _viz._, the Hebrew, Samaritan Pentateuch, and Septuagint differ\n  very much from one another.... This variety of computations hath\n  left room for Chronologers to enlarge or contract the space of time\n  betwixt the flood and the birth of Christ, by adhering to one copy\n  rather than another; or by rejecting or retaining the whole numbers,\n  or the particulars, just as it suited their humour of making the\n  Sacred History agree with the Prophane; or otherwise of reducing the\n  Prophane to the Sacred, and as the disagreement among the heathen\n  writers is great also, and every author hath followed the historian\n  he liked best, hence a wide difference hath arisen amongst modern\n  Chronologers as appears by the various computations ... which we here\n  give as collected by Strauchius, Chevreau, and others. It would be\n  endless as well as unnecessary here to examine into the particular\n  causes of this great difference amongst authors, every one still\n  pretending to ground his system on the authority of the Scripture.\n\n  A Table of the years of the world to the birth of Christ, according\n  to the computations of several chronologers.\n\n  Alphonsus, King of Castile, in Muller\u2019s Tables   6,984\n  The same, in Strauchius                          6,484 9 months\n  Onuphrius Panvinius                              6,310\n  Suidas                                           6,000\n  Lactantius, Philastrius                          5,801\n  Nicephorus                                       5,700\n  Clemens Alexandrinus                             5,624\n  The author of the Fasti Siculi                   5,608 9 months\n  Isaac Vossius, and the Greeks                    5,598\n          Etc. etc.\u201d                                 \u201e\n\nIt will be seen that the earlier of these dates leads us back to an\neven more remote age than that in which, if the theory here proposed is\na true one, the marvellous achievement of the formation of a scientific\nsidereal calendar was accomplished.\n\nTo attribute to the dwellers in Eden or to their immediate descendants\nintellectual gifts that should enable them to perfect so grand a\nscheme, does certainly not contradict the story of the fall, but\nrather may open up for us fresh lines of thought, when we read of that\ntransgression in which the pride of intellect played so important a\npart.\n\n\nII\n\nTHE CONSTELLATION ARIES\n\n  [Reprinted from the _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical\n  Arch\u00e6ology_, _March 1893_]\n\nIn the January number of the _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical\nArch\u00e6ology_ for last year, under the title _The Accadian Calendar_, two\npropositions were advanced:--\n\nI. The Accadian year was counted as a sidereal year.\n\nII. The Accadian calendar was first thought out and originated at a\ndate not later than 6,000 B.C.\n\nThe fact that the sun\u2019s entry into the constellation Aries appears to\nhave marked through many millenniums the beginning of the Accadian\nyear, was cited in support of the first proposition, and the fact that\nthe sun\u2019s entry into Aries coincided about 6,000 B.C. with the winter\nsolstice, was relied on to support the probability of the second\nproposition, namely, that at the above date the calendar, which so\nhonoured the inconspicuous constellation Aries, was first drawn up.\n\nIf we now find this inconspicuous part of the heavens equally honoured\nby several nations in very ancient times, we shall be led to think\neither that these nations, independently of each other, happened to\nobserve and mark out the sun\u2019s annual course through the heavens at\nexactly the same date, and therefore chose the same point as marking\nthe winter solstice; or we must suppose that they derived their\ncalendar and knowledge of the Zodiac from observations originally made\nby some _one_ civilized race.\n\nThe Brahmins of India claim a high antiquity for the science of\nastronomy in their country, and their observations and calculations\nprofess to date back to the fourth millennium B.C. The names of the\nIndian constellations are preserved to us in the Sanscrit language, and\nthese names are, so to speak, identical with those that we use at the\npresent day when we speak of the figures of the Zodiac. Many scholars\nof to-day believe that only after Alexander\u2019s conquests in India did\nthe knowledge of the twelve-fold division of the Zodiac penetrate into\nthat country. Some, on the other hand, maintain the opposite opinion,\nnamely, \u201cthat the names of the signs can be proved to have existed in\nIndia at as early a period as in any other country.\u201d[17]\n\n  [17] V. p. 90.\n\nJean Silvain Bailly, whose opinions as to the antiquity of the science\nof astronomy have been already quoted in the foregoing Paper, in his\nwork on the history of ancient astronomy, speaking of the Brahmins of\nIndia, the initial point of whose Zodiac is at the first star in the\nconstellation Aries, writes as follows:[18]--\n\n  \u201cMais pourquoi ont-ils choisi cette constellation pour la premi\u00e8re?\n  Il est \u00e9vident que c\u2019est une affaire de pr\u00e9jug\u00e9 et de superstition;\n  le choix du premier point dans un cercle est arbitraire. Ils auront\n  \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9cid\u00e9s par quelque ancienne tradition.\u201d\n\n  [18] The initial point of the Hindu Zodiac (see Plate III.) is about\n  9\u00bd degrees to the west of the boundary line of the constellation\n  Aries, as it is drawn on our celestial globes. One foot of Aries,\n  however, extends beyond the boundary line, and touches a line drawn\n  through the initial point of the Hindu Zodiac and the poles of the\n  ecliptic. At page 132, the question of the date of the fixation of\n  this initial point is discussed, and a high antiquity for it is\n  claimed. There are many considerations which may lead us to the\n  opinion that not only in India, but amongst the ancients generally,\n  the first degree of the constellation coincided with the Hindu\n  initial point, and not with the boundary line of the constellation,\n  as it is now drawn. Greek and Latin authors, writing in the first\n  century B.C., speak of the solstitial and equinoctial colures, as\n  being \u201cat the eighth degree of the Zodiac,\u201d and these statements,\n  which have caused modern commentators much perplexity (see _Handbuch\n  der Klassischen Alterthumswissenschaft_; _Zeitrechnung der Griechen\n  und R\u00f6mer_, Unger), may be easily explained, if we realize that they,\n  in all likelihood, counted the degrees of the Zodiac from the same\n  initial point as that in use amongst Hindu astronomers, which in the\n  first century B.C. was eight degrees to the west of the equinoctial\n  point.\n\nDupuis, writing at nearly the same date as Bailly, about a hundred\nyears ago, and in conflict with him on many points relating to the\nZodiac, was also struck by the choice of this same inconspicuous\npoint in the great circle of the ecliptic, not only by the Brahmins\nof India, but also by other ancient nations. He further explains that\nthe difference in the choice of initial point by the Chinese, and by\nthe other nations, is only an apparent, and not a real difference. On\nthe wonderful agreement shown by so many nations, in their choice of\nthe stars by which they marked the beginning of their Zodiacs, Dupuis\nrelied to support his views concerning the unity of the astronomical\nand religious myths of all nations.\n\nAt the end of his work, _M\u00e9moire Explicatif du Zodiaque_, Dupuis gives\nin a diagram several Zodiacs in concentric circles; some divided into\ntwelve, some into twenty-seven or twenty-eight parts. He represents\nthe colures by a cross which quarters these concentric Zodiacs, and\nspeaking of the twenty-seven- and twenty-eight-fold divisions, he\nobserves as follows:\n\n  \u201cOn remarque d\u2019abord, que ces divers syst\u00e8mes lunaires, tir\u00e9s de\n  l\u2019Astronomie de diff\u00e9rens peuples, s\u2019accordent tous \u00e0 placer dans\n  les cases correspondantes \u00e0-peu-pr\u00e8s les m\u00eames \u00e9toiles. Il suffit,\n  pour s\u2019en assurer, de comparer les \u00e9toiles design\u00e9es dans la m\u00eame\n  case de la division de chaque peuple. On remarque aussi qu\u2019ils ont\n  pris tous, except\u00e9 les Chinois, les m\u00eames \u00e9toiles, pour point initial\n  de la division, savoir, celles de la t\u00eate du B\u00e9lier. Les Chinois,\n  au contraire, ont fix\u00e9 le point initial dans la partie du ciel\n  diam\u00e9tralement oppos\u00e9e, vers les pieds de la Vierge et pr\u00e8s l\u2019Epi\u201d\n  (p. 4).\n\nDupuis\u2019 arguments, drawn from the choice by several nations of the\nfirst division of Aries as the initial point of the Zodiac and year,\nare of equal cogency in support of a calendar such as he suggests,\ndrawn up more than 12,000 B.C., for a year beginning at the _autumn\nequinox_; or for a calendar, as suggested in this Paper, drawn up about\n6,000 B.C., and dealing with a year beginning at the _winter solstice_;\nand it may be claimed that the facts brought to light by the study of\nthe ancient Accadian calendar, while greatly strengthening the ground\nfor Dupuis\u2019 opinion concerning the early acceptance by many nations\nof the stars of Aries as a mark for the beginning of the year in\nprehistoric times, seem more in favour of the first month of that year\nhaving been counted from the _winter solstice_ than from the _autumn\nequinox_.\n\nQuotations from authors like Bailly and Dupuis may seem nowadays\nsomewhat out of date; for though they were amongst the foremost\nscholars of their time, they were necessarily ignorant of all the\narch\u00e6ological discoveries that have succeeded each other with such\nrapidity during the last century. Unless, therefore, the brilliant\nguesses and astronomical speculations of these writers can find\nconfirmation in the results of modern researches, their theories may\nwell be disregarded. But it seems to me that many of their theories\nare meeting with such confirmation.\n\nTurning first to some of the facts which arch\u00e6ology has taught us\nregarding the ancient Egyptians, it will be interesting to see if there\nare any indications in their astronomy or mythology of honour paid to\nthe constellation Aries in connexion with the progress of the sun and\nmoon through the figures of the Zodiac.\n\nIt is true that the acquaintance of the ancient Egyptians with these\nfigures is a matter still in dispute, and the various methods of\ncounting the year followed by them also present great difficulties to\nscholars. It is, however, admitted that they were a people much given\nto the observation and worship of the heavenly bodies, and that their\nastronomy and mythology were very closely interwoven with each other.\n\nIn the time of the Middle Empire, it seems, the months in the civil\nyear were not counted as lunar months, but as months of thirty days\neach. The year was not counted as a sidereal year, but as one of\nthree hundred and sixty days--twelve months of thirty days--with five\ndays added at the end of each year to bring up the number to three\nhundred and sixty-five days. No attention was paid to the odd hours and\nminutes over and above the three hundred and sixty-five days, which are\noccupied by the sun in completing his annual course.\n\nMr Griffiths has remarked in the number of the _Proceedings of the\nSociety of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology_ for March 1892, that the hieroglyph\nfor month points to an _originally_ lunar month, and I would suggest\nthat the star under the first crescent seems to point also to a month\noriginally counted sidereally, _i.e._, dependent upon the conjunction\nof the sun and moon in some particular star-group of the ecliptic. As\na matter of fact, the Egyptians made use not only of a civil year such\nas has been above described, but also of a sidereal year, counted from\nthe heliacal rising of Sirius, and it is perhaps possible that the\nmonths in this sidereal year were counted as lunar months, and the year\ntreated as soli-lunar and sidereal.\n\nIn these two Egyptian _calendars_--so far as they are at present\nunderstood--no reference to the constellation Aries seems to be\ndiscernible. The agricultural importance of the season of the summer\nsolstice in Egypt, coinciding as it does with the rising of the Nile,\nmay have induced calendar-makers at some very early date to re-arrange\nthe order of the year, so as to make it begin at the _summer_ rather\nthan the _winter_ solstice--the season, as it is contended in these\nPapers, originally chosen 6,000 B.C. by astronomers in a more northern\nlatitude than that of Egypt as the starting-point of a year sidereally\nmarked by the conjunction of the sun with the constellation Aries.\n\nBut if we turn to the Egyptian _mythology_, the importance of the Ram,\nor rather of the head of the Ram, as it is revealed in the monuments,\nand in the pictorial art of the ancient Egyptians, must continually\nstrike the student of Egyptian symbolism.\n\nAmen, the great god of the Theban triad (Amen, Maut, and Chons), is\nsometimes represented as ram-headed--his boat and his sceptre are\nalways adorned with a ram\u2019s head, and the great temple to him, in\nconjunction with the sun, _i.e._ to Amen-Ra, is approached through an\navenue of gigantic ram-headed sphinxes, and this is also the case as\nregards the temple of Chons--the moon-god--at right angles, and in\nclose proximity, to the great temple of Amen-Ra.\n\nScholars tell us that Horus, Isis, and Osiris,--the Memphian\ntriad--symbolized the _diurnal_ motion of the sun and other heavenly\nbodies, and it need not appear improbable that the great Theban triad,\nAmen, Maut, and Chons, should have originally symbolized the _annual_\ncourse of those same bodies through the constellations of the Zodiac.\nThis would account for the prominence of the Ram in connexion with\nthe worship of this triad--the Ram, which, as I have argued, in many\ncountries, and possibly in Egypt also, marked the first division of the\nZodiac and year.\n\nA prayer to Amen is translated by G. Maspero in the April number for\n1891 of the _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology_;[19]\nfrom this translation it would appear that Amen is implored to bring\nthe calendar into touch with the real seasons of the year. If Amen\nrepresented a sidereally marked point in the yearly course of the\nsun, such a prayer might suitably have been addressed to him by the\nEgyptians.\n\n  [19] \u201cIl ne me reste plus qu\u2019\u00e0 donner la traduction suivie du texte\n  (Papyrus Anastasi, iv., p. 10. L 1-5), dont je viens d\u2019expliquer le\n  sens et le d\u00e9veloppement litt\u00e9raire.\n\n  \u201cViens \u00e0 moi, Amon, me d\u00e9livrer de l\u2019ann\u00e9e f\u00e2cheuse, o\u00f9 le dieu Shou\n  (Shou \u00e9tait, \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9poque des Ramessides et plus tard, le dieu du\n  soleil solstitial, du soleil d\u2019\u00e9t\u00e9, comme Brugsch l\u2019a montr\u00e9 fort\n  ing\u00e9nieusement) ne se l\u00e8ve plus, o\u00f9 vient l\u2019hiver o\u00f9 \u00e9tait l\u2019\u00e9t\u00e9,\n  o\u00f9 les mois s\u2019en vont hors leur place, o\u00f9 les heures se brouillent,\n  o\u00f9 les grands t\u2019appellent, \u00f4 Amon, o\u00f9 les petits te cherchent, o\u00f9\n  ceux m\u00eame qui sont encore dans les bras de leur nourrice, ceux-l\u00e0\n  (crient): \u2018Donne les souffles!\u2019--Amon trouve Amon \u00e9coute, Amon est le\n  sain devant qui marchent les souffles agr\u00e9ables; il me donne d\u2019\u00eatre\n  comme l\u2019aile du vautour, comme la palette charg\u00e9e des discours des\n  Esprits pour les bergers dans les champs, pour les laveurs sur la\n  berge, pour les garde-chasse qui sortent au territoire des gazelles\n  afin de lacer (le gibier).\u201d\n\n  M. Maspero states that the latter lines of the text are injured and\n  difficult to decipher or to understand.\n\nThe great temple to Amen-Ra at Thebes, approached, as has been stated\nabove, through an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes, is oriented to the\nsetting sun of the season so important to Egyptians, that of the\nsummer solstice, and this fact strengthens the opinion that Amen was\nconsidered to be a god in some way presiding over the course of the\nyear and its right measurement. It is true that this orientation of\nhis temple precluded the possibility of the light from any star of\nthe constellation Aries ever shining into the shrine of the god; but\nit is perhaps possible that the ceremony of \u201cthe great feast-day\nof Amon Father,\u201d described by Ebers, may have been devised by the\nvotaries of Amen as a means whereby they could honour the god, as one\npresiding over the most propitious season of the year, and also recall\nthe sidereal connexion of the god of the year with the, from times\nimmemorial highly reverenced, constellation Aries.\n\nAt pp. 277 and 278 of _Egypt, Descriptive, Historical, and\nPicturesque_, vol. ii., Ebers, having referred to some figures\nrepresented on the walls of a Memnonium in the Nekropolis erected by\nRameses II., exactly opposite to the Great Temple of Karnak, observes:--\n\n  \u201cOf these figures the inscription says:--\u2018As they approach the king\n  their arms are filled with choice produce and stores, and all the\n  good things that the earth brings forth are gathered by them to add\n  to the joy on the great feast-day of Amon, the father.\u2019\u201d\n\n  \u201cThese words refer to the great \u2018feast of the Valley\u2019 (_heb en-ant_),\n  when, on the 29th day of the second month of the inundation, the\n  statue of Amon was brought forth from the sanctuary with much\n  magnificence and solemnity, and conveyed across the Nile to the\n  Nekropolis, that the god might there offer sacrifices to his\n  ancestors in the other world. The priests of the house of Seti\n  received the procession with the splendid bark Sam, the most sacred\n  of all the vessels that were preserved in the temple of Karnak:\n  in this the statue of the god was placed, and borne first to the\n  Memnonium of Seti, and then round about the Nekropolis, preceded\n  by a crowd of temple servants, who strewed the way with sand. The\n  solemnities ended with a grand nocturnal spectacle, on the great\n  sacred lake of which traces may still be seen to the extreme south of\n  the Nekropolis.\n\n  \u201cThe Egyptian religion prescribed to all its followers that they\n  should visit the tombs of their dead and bring offerings, in grateful\n  remembrance of their parents and forefathers; and as, day after day,\n  millions of suns had gone to rest--as men do--behind the realm of\n  tombs in the Libyan hills, the god himself was brought to do honour\n  to his departed ancestry, and to sacrifice to them.\u201d\n\nThe rising of the Nile in Egypt coincides very closely with the season\nof the _summer solstice_. At the date of Rameses II.--a date not yet\nunanimously agreed on by scholars, but which may be safely placed\nbetween 1,400 and 1,100 B.C.--the sun at the season of the _summer\nsolstice_ was in the constellation Cancer (see Plate II.), and two\nmonths later its place in the ecliptic was a few degrees to the west of\na point exactly opposed to the first stars of Aries and to the initial\npoint of the Indian Zodiac. On the evening, therefore, of the 29th day\nof the second month of the inundation, when the sun had now sunk behind\nthe Libyan hills, and daylight had faded sufficiently to allow them to\nshow their light,[20] the first stars of Aries rose above the eastern\nhorizon, and at midnight attained to the southern meridian.\n\n  [20] When the sun is about 7\u00b0 below the western horizon, stars in the\n  opposite quarter of the heavens begin to be visible.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE II.\n\nRelating to \u201cthe Feast-day of Amon, the Father.\u201d\n\nPosition of sun on first of fixed Thoth varied by about one degree in\ntwo hundred years.\n\n[_To face p. 36._]\n\nThus at the season of all the year, when Aries specially dominated the\necliptic, the statue of the god Amen was, as we learn, brought out of\nhis dark temple shrine and carried in procession to the Nekropolis,\nfrom whence the constellation Aries--not hidden by obstructing walls\nand columns--was fully visible; and there honour was done and sacrifice\noffered to \u201cAmon Father.\u201d\n\nBut it may be said that we should understand \u201cthe second month of the\ninundation\u201d to refer to the second month of the Egyptian sidereal\nyear counted from the 1st Thoth (fixed) and marked by the heliacal\nrising of Sirius. At the date of Rameses the beginning of this sidereal\nyear fell, as may be proved, a fortnight after the _summer solstice_\n(see Plate II.), and still on the 29th of the second month of this\nsidereal year the stars of Aries might be seen rising in the east--no\nlonger only its first stars, but nearly the whole constellation then\nbecoming visible--and at about midnight its brightest stars, \u03b1 and \u03b2\nArietis, culminated on the meridian. Whether, therefore, the \u201cFeast\nof the Valley\u201d was held at the end of the second month of the actual\ninundation, or of the second month of the sidereal year, the stars of\nAries presided over its \u201cnocturnal\u201d solemnities.\n\nSome scholars claim, however, that all Egyptian festivals were swept\nround through the seasons, and the stars that marked those seasons, in\nthe course of fourteen or fifteen hundred years, inasmuch as they were\nfirmly bound to the _vague_ calendrical year of 365 days. If this was\nindeed so, it would be difficult to imagine that Seti I. or Rameses\nII. could have established the festival in question as in any way\nconnected with honour to be paid to the constellation Aries; for though\nduring the reign of Seti, and perhaps during the early part of that of\nRameses, the vague and fixed years coincided more or less closely (see\nPlate II.), yet before the death of Rameses they were already so far\napart that the 1st Thoth (vague) fell, not a fortnight later than the\nsummer solstice, but about a fortnight earlier; and therefore on the\n29th day of the second month of the vague year the stars of Aries would\nnot have risen until long after sunset, nor would any one of them have\nculminated on the meridian at midnight.\n\nIf now we turn our attention of the temple of Amen-Ra at Aboo Simbel,\nwe may observe that, unlike that to the same god at Karnak, it is not\noriented to any definite _season_ of the year. The rising sun shines\ninto it now, and must always have shone into the Holy of Holies of that\nrock-hewn temple on the morning of a day somewhat more than two months\ndistant from the winter solstice, and somewhat less than a month\nbefore the season of the spring equinox, namely, on the morning of the\n26th February (Gregorian).[21]\n\n  [21] \u201cI was fortunate in seeing another wonderful thing during my\n  visit to Aboo Simbel. The great temple is dedicated to Amen-Ra, the\n  sun-god, and on two days in the year the sun is said to rise at such\n  a point that it sends a beam of light through both halls till it\n  falls on the shrine itself in the very Holy of Holies. Many theories\n  are based on the orientation of the temples, and Captain Johnston\n  wished to find on which day in the spring of the year the phenomenon\n  took place; so he took his instruments, and we all went up to the\n  temple before dawn. It was the 26th February. The great hall, with\n  its eight Osiride pillars, was wrapped in semi-darkness. Still darker\n  were the inner hall and shrine. Behind the altar sat the four gods,\n  Amen, Horus, Ptah, and Rameses himself, now deified. All the East was\n  a deep rosy flush; then that paled, and a hard white light filled the\n  sky. Clearer and whiter it grew, till, with a sudden joyous rush, the\n  sun swung up over the low ridge of hill, and in an instant, like an\n  arrow from the bow of Ph\u0153bus Apollo, one level shaft of light pierced\n  the great hall and fell in living glory straight upon the shrine\n  itself.\u201d--A. F. [Extract from the _Pall Mall Gazette_, 20th April,\n  1892.]\n\n\nThe sun now (1893 A.D.) is, at the season named, in the constellation\nAquarius; but if we calculate back to a date anywhere between 1,400\nand 1,100 B.C., we shall find (see Plate III.) that when Rameses II.\ndedicated this temple to Amen-Ra, the sun when it penetrated into the\nshrine of the temple at Aboo Simbel was in conjunction with the first\nstars of the constellation _Aries_, and this fact must, it would seem,\nencourage us to adopt the opinion put forward above concerning the\ndesire of Rameses II. to honour that constellation in connexion with\nthe god Amen.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE III.\n\nRelating to the Orientation of a Temple to Amon-Ra.\n\n[_To face p. 40._]\n\nIt would seem then that there are indications in the mythology and\nin the history of the Egyptians, of honour paid to the constellation\nAries, and as we further study the records of antiquity, now within our\nreach, it will, I believe, become evident that not only the Egyptians,\nbut also all the great civilized nations of the East, had traditions\nof a year beginning when the sun and moon entered the constellation\nAries--such a year as that in use amongst the Babylonians during their\nlong existence as a nation, and such as that which is used by the\nHindus in India to this present day.\n\nIf we allow weight to these considerations, it will be difficult to\nthink that such a method of reckoning the year--involving, as it did,\nthe recognition of the ecliptic star-groups under the fanciful figures\nof the Zodiac--should have been arrived at by each of these nations\nindependently. Whether one nation borrowed these ideas from another,\nor whether some \u201cearlier race of men\u201d bequeathed this knowledge to\ntheir many descendants, is still an open question. Scholars have not\nunanimously awarded the palm of seniority in civilization to any one\nnation, and we are not at variance with proved facts, if we elect to\nadopt the theory of a common stock, from which the divergent races\nsprang. If, then, it should appear that these races possessed and\nincorporated into their mythologies a knowledge of the Zodiac, and of\nthe first degree of Aries as its initial point, their separation from\nthe parent stock must have been subsequent to the formation of the\nscheme that dealt with a calendar based on an observation of the colure\nof the winter solstice at that point, and under this supposition the\ndate of 6,000 B.C. becomes a foothold for the chronology of ancient\nhistory. We should also be led to think of the common ancestors of the\ncivilized races not as ignorant barbarians, but rather as men graced\nwith high intellectual gifts--men whose teachings have been handed\ndown through all the ages to this present day, and of whose imaginings\nthe Zodiac remains as the most ancient monument of the work of\nintelligent man.\n\n\nIII\n\n[Illustration] (_GU_), ELEVENTH CONSTELLATION OF THE ZODIAC\n\n  [Reprinted from the _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical\n  Arch\u00e6ology, February 1896_]\n\nIn the astronomical tablets (of the 1st and 2nd cent. B.C.) translated\nby Epping and Strassmaier, the twelve constellations of the Babylonian\nZodiac are constantly referred to. Their names appear under very\nabbreviated forms in the tablets, and are as follows:[22]--\n\n   1. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_ku_(_sarikku_)) = aries.\n   2. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_te_(_mennu_)) = taurus.\n   3. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_ma\u0161u_) = gemini.\n   4. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_pulukku_) = cancer.\n   5. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_ar\u016b_) = leo.\n   6. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_ser\u00fb_) = virgo.\n   7. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_ziban\u00eetu_) = libra.\n   8. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_aqrabu_) = scorpio.\n   9. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_pa_) = arcitenens.\n  10. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_enzu_) = caper.\n  11. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_gu_) = amphora [aquarius].\n  12. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_zib_) = pisces.\n\n  [22] _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Assyriologie_, v Band, 4 Heft, Oct. 1890, p.\n  351.\n\nAlso in Epping and Strassmaier\u2019s work, _Astronomisches aus Babylon_,\nunder the heading _Die Zeichen des Thierkreises_, pp. 170, 171, and\n_Namen der Sterne_, pp. 174, 175, the twelve abbreviations met with in\nthe tablets are discussed at some length.\n\nFrom a study of the list here given and of the passages referred to,\nwe learn that it has been found possible to suggest for some of the\nabbreviations suitable terminations, and in the completed words thus\nobtained, the familiar constellations of the Zodiac, as we know them,\nare easily to be recognized.\n\nAs regards other of the abbreviations, and amongst them that of\n[Illustration] (Gu) for the eleventh sign (Amphora or Aquarius), no\ntermination has been suggested; and of it Strassmaier thus writes:[23]\np. 171:--\u201cGu ist sonst fast ausschliesslich nur als Silbenzeichen\ngu bekannt\u201d; and Jensen, discussing Epping and Strassmaier\u2019s\nconstellation list, writes thus of the abbreviation Gu for the eleventh\nconstellation:[24] \u201cOb Gu einen \u2018Wassereimer,\u2019 \u2018Sch\u00f6pfeimer,\u2019\nbezeichnen kann, weiss ich nicht. Die bisher ver\u00f6ffentlichten Texte\ngeben keinen Aufschluss dar\u00fcber.\u201d\n\n  [23] _Astronomisches aus Babylon._\n\n  [24] _Kosmologie der Babylonier_, p. 314.\n\nAs a probable completion for the abbreviation Gu, the following\nsuggestion is here put forward:--\n\nIn the ancient astrological tablets translated by Professor Sayce\nin his Paper, _The Astronomy and Astrology of the Babylonians_,[25]\npp. 189, 190, \u201cthe star of Gula\u201d is mentioned. The first syllable of\nthis word is composed of the same cuneiform group as that used in\nthe abbreviation for the eleventh constellation of the Zodiac in the\nastronomical tablets of the first and second centuries B.C. above\nreferred to. But this fact, if it stood alone, would not be enough\nto do more than point to a possible identification of Gu in the late\ntablets with Gula in the ancient astrological works. Amongst the many\nconstellations in the heavens the name of more than one might have\nbegun with the syllable Gu.\n\n  [25] _Transactions, Biblical Arch\u00e6ology_, vol. iii., February 1874.\n\nWe find, however, at a later page (206) of Professor Sayce\u2019s Paper,\nthis sentence translated from W.A.I., III. 57, 1:--\n\n\u201cJupiter[26] in the star of Gula lingers.\u201d None of the five planets\nknown to the Babylonians could ever with truth have been described\nas appearing or \u201clingering\u201d in any part of the heavens outside the\nband of the Zodiac stars. \u201cThe star (or constellation) of Gula,\u201d we\nmust therefore assume, was a Zodiacal star or constellation. This\nrestriction of the position of the \u201cstar of Gula\u201d renders it scarcely\na rash conclusion to arrive at, that the _Zodiacal_ Gu of the later\ntablets is an abbreviation for the _Zodiacal_ Gula of the ancient\nastrological works.\n\n  [26] Or, rather, \u201cMercury.\u201d See Epping and Strassmaier,\n  _Astronomisches aus Babylon_, p. 112 _et seq._\n\nAs to a mythological reason for the choice of the goddess Gula to\npreside over the constellation known to us as Aquarius, we find it in\nthe fact that Gula appears as another name for the goddess Bau[27] and\nBau (or Bahu) was a personification of _the dark water_, or chaos.\n\n  [27] Maspero, _Dawn of Civilization_, p. 672, notes 1, 2.\n\nIf we adopt this identification of the star or constellation Gula with\nthe constellation, or some star in the constellation, Aquarius, it will\nthrow light on many of the inscriptions found on statues and other\nmonuments at Telloh (the modern name of the mound which covers the\nruins of the ancient city of Lagash),\n\nWe find from these inscriptions that the deities especially worshipped\nat Lagash were not the same as those who held the foremost places\ncontemporaneously in the Accadian, and at a later time in the\nBabylonian Pantheon. Ningirsu and \u201chis beloved consort,\u201d the goddess\nBau, received in Lagash the highest honours. On one of the statues of\nGudea, \u201cthe priestly governor of Lagash,\u201d this inscription occurs:[28]--\n\n  \u201cTo Ningirsu, the powerful warrior of Ellilla [this is dedicated] by\n  Gudea, priestly governor of Lagash, who has constructed the temple of\n  Eninnu, consecrated to Ningirsu.\n\n  \u201cFor Ningirsu, his lord, he has built the temple of Ekhud, the tower\n  in stages, from the summit of which Ningirsu grants him a happy lot.\n\n  \u201cBesides the offerings which Gudea made of his free will to Ningirsu\n  and to the goddess Bau, daughter of Anna, his beloved consort, he has\n  made others to his god Ningiszida.\n\n  \u201cThat year he had a block of rare stone brought from the country of\n  Magan; he had it carved into a statue of himself.\n\n  \u201cOn the day of the beginning of the year, the day of the festival of\n  Bau, on which offerings were made: one calf, one fat sheep, three\n  lambs, six full grown sheep, two rams, seven _pat_ of dates, seven\n  _sab_ of cream, seven palm buds.\n\n  \u201cSuch were the offerings made to the goddess Bau in the ancient\n  temple on that day.\u201d\n\n  [28] Evetts, _New Light on the Bible_, p. 162.\n\nNingirsu, the god--so highly exalted in this and in other inscriptions\nfound in the mounds of Telloh--has been identified with the god\nNinib[29] of the Babylonians. Much difference of opinion prevails as to\nwhat astronomical ideas were connected by the ancient inhabitants of\nMesopotamia with the god Ninib.\n\n  [29] Maspero, _Dawn of Civilization_, pp. 637, 645.\n\nJensen admits that the generally received opinion as to Ninib is that\nhe represents the \u201csouthern sun.\u201d[30] He, however, contends, with great\neagerness, that this is a mistaken opinion, and that Ninib is really\nthe eastern or rising sun. Many of Jensen\u2019s arguments against the\npossibility of Ninib representing the southern sun are based on the\nassumption that the epithet \u201csouthern,\u201d applied to the sun, denotes the\npower of the mid-day sun; whereas, in other descriptions of Ninib, he\nappears as struggling with, though in the end triumphant over, storm,\nand cloud, and darkness.\n\n  [30] Jensen, _Die Kosmologie der Babylonier_, p. 460.\n\nThe sun in his _daily_ course attains the southern meridian at noon,\nand that may well be described by Jensen as the \u201calles verzehrenden\nund versengenden S\u00fcd- oder Mittagssonne,\u201d but if we think of the sun\nin his _annual_ course, the words \u201csouthern sun\u201d may more fitly in\nan astronomical sense mean the struggling and finally triumphant sun\nof the winter solstice. And if we so understand the expression, the\napparently contradictory references to Ninib are easily explained.\n\nAt mid-winter the sun rises and sets more to the south than at any\nother time of the year; at noon on the day of the winter solstice the\nsun is forty-seven degrees nearer to the south pole of the heavens than\nit is at the summer solstice.\n\nIf, instead of adopting Jensen\u2019s contention, and looking upon Ninib\nas the eastern rising sun, we revert to the generally held opinion\nthat Ninib was the god of the southern sun, and if we understand\nthe southern sun in its astronomical sense as the winter, or more\nstrictly speaking the mid-winter sun, it will naturally lead us to the\nconclusion that \u201cthe day of the beginning of the year,\u201d the day of the\nfestival of Bau, Ningirsu\u2019s (= Ninib\u2019s) \u201cbeloved consort,\u201d was held at\nthe time of the winter solstice.\n\nSpeaking in round numbers, from 4,000 to 2,000 B.C., the winter\nsolstice took place when the sun was in conjunction with the\nconstellation Aquarius, which constellation, or some one of its stars,\nwas, as has been suggested, called by the Babylonian astronomers, Gula,\nGula being another name for Bau.\n\nIt is not therefore surprising to find that those rulers of Lagash,\nwhose dates fell between 4,000 and 2,000 B.C., should have so often\nassociated together Ningirsu and Bau; and further, that Gudea,\nwhose rule is placed at about 2,900 B.C., should on \u201cthe day of the\nbeginning of the year\u201d have kept high festival in honour of Bau, as\nthe beneficent deity presiding in conjunction with Ningirsu over the\nrevolving years.\n\nThe precession of the equinoxes must necessarily in the course of ages\nintroduce confusion into all Zodiacal calendars, and into all ritual\nand mythological symbolism founded on such calendars. From 2,000 b.c.\ndown to the beginning of our era, the winter solstice took place when\nthe sun was in conjunction with Capricornus, not with Aquarius. In\nthose later days, if the inhabitants of Lagash still celebrated their\nnew year\u2019s festival at the winter solstice, Bau (= Gula = Aquarius)\ncould only have laid a traditional claim to preside over it.\n\nIn accordance with these astronomical facts, we learn from the\nteachings of the tablets that the especial reverence paid to Bau =\nGula, in the Lagash inscriptions was not extended to her in later times.\n\nAs to Ninib, we know that even at Gudea\u2019s date in the neighbouring\nstate of Accad, and in later times in Babylon, he did not hold the\npre-eminent position accorded to him by the early rulers of Lagash.\n\nThis difference in the religious observances of Accad and Lagash\nregarding Ninib--if we suppose him to be the god of the winter\nsolstice--may also receive an astronomical explanation.\n\nAccording to the evidence of _The Standard Astrological Work_, the\ncompilation of which is generally attributed to the date 3,800 B.C.,\nand according to the evidence of many other tablets, the year in Accad\nand afterwards in Babylon began not at the winter solstice, but on\nthe 1st day of Nisan, and Nisan (Acc. Bar zig-gar), the month of \u201cthe\nsacrifice of righteousness,\u201d was, as its name suggests, the month\nduring which the sun was in conjunction with the constellation Aries.\n\nAt Gudea\u2019s date, about 2,900 B.C., the 1st of Nisan, if it was\ndependent on the sun\u2019s entry into Aries, must have fallen about midway\nbetween the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and as century\nsucceeded century, the 1st of Nisan must slowly but surely have receded\nfurther from the solstice and have approached more and more to the\nequinoctial point.\n\nIn Accad, therefore, neither at Gudea\u2019s nor at any later date, did the\nyear begin at the winter solstice, and hence we can understand why in\nthat state, and afterwards in Babylon, Ninib was not as highly honoured\nas in Lagash, and why he and his consort Bau (= Gula) were not referred\nto as the deities presiding over the beginning of the year.\n\nIn a former number of these _Proceedings_[31] I drew attention to the\nAccadian calendar. It was there suggested that the choice of the first\ndegree of Aries as the initial point of the Zodiac was originally made\nwhen the winter solstice coincided with the sun\u2019s entry into that\nconstellation, _i.e._ about 6,000 B.C.\n\n  [31] January 1892, V. p. 13.\n\nIf that suggestion, and the present one concerning the new year\u2019s\nfestival in Lagash are accepted, it will be easy to imagine that the\nLagash observance betokened a sort of effort to reform the sidereal\ncalendar in use in Accad, and it may be elsewhere.\n\nIn Accad the calendar makers clung to the originally instituted\n_star-mark_ for the year, and made it begin with the sun\u2019s entry into\nAries; therefore by degrees the beginning of their year moved away\nfrom the winter solstice, and in the first century B.C. coincided very\nclosely with the spring equinox.\n\nIn Lagash, on the contrary, the calendar makers clung to the\noriginally established _season_ of the year, and made it begin at the\nwinter solstice; therefore by degrees the beginning of their year moved\naway from the constellation Aries, and in Gudea\u2019s time the new year\u2019s\nfestival was held in honour of the goddess Bau = Gula = Aquarius.\n\n\nIV\n\nTHE MEDIAN CALENDAR AND THE CONSTELLATION TAURUS\n\n  [Reprinted from the _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical\n  Arch\u00e6ology, June 1897_]\n\nIn a former number[32] of these _Proceedings_ I contrasted as follows,\nwhat I believed to be the calendar of the Accadians with that of the\ninhabitants of Lagash:--\n\n  \u201cIn Accad the calendar makers clung to the originally instituted\n  _star-mark_ for the year, and made it begin with the sun\u2019s entry\n  into [the constellation] Aries; therefore by degrees the beginning\n  of their year moved away from the winter solstice, and in the first\n  century B.C. coincided very closely with the spring equinox.\n\n  \u201cIn Lagash, on the contrary, the calendar makers clung to the\n  originally established _season_ of the year, and made it begin at\n  the winter solstice; therefore by degrees the beginning of their year\n  moved away from the constellation Aries, and in Gudea\u2019s time [about\n  2,900 B.C.] the new year\u2019s festival was held in honour of the goddess\n  Bau = Gula = Aquarius.\u201d\n\n  [32] V. p. 54.\n\nI now desire to draw attention to the Median calendar, which appears\nto have differed from that used, as above suggested, in Accad or in\nLagash; inasmuch as the beginning of the Median year was not dependent\non the sun\u2019s entry into the _constellation Aries_, as in Accad; nor was\nit fixed to the season of the _winter solstice_ as in Lagash.\n\nThe beginning of the Median year was fixed to the _season of the spring\nequinox_, and remaining true to that season, followed no star-mark.\nThe great importance, however, of Tauric symbolism in Median art\nseems to point to the fact that _when the equinoctial year was first\nestablished_ the spring equinoctial point was in the constellation\nTaurus. Astronomy teaches us that was the case, speaking in round\nnumbers, from 4,000 to 2,000 B.C.\n\nIt is true that we have no documentary proof of the existence of a\nMedian _equinoctial_ calendar in the remote past, such as that which\nwe possess in the Babylonian standard astrological works regarding\nthe ancient _sidereal_ Accadian calendar. We have, however, among the\nmodern representatives of the Medes, the Persians, a very distinctive\ncalendrical observance, namely, that of the Nowroose, or the festival\nof the new year; and we have the Persian tradition that the institution\nof this festival was of fabulous antiquity. I quote from Ker Porter\u2019s\nremarks on this subject:--\n\n  \u201cThe 21st of March, the impatiently anticipated day of the most\n  joyous festival of Persia, at last arrived. It is called the feast of\n  the Nowroose, or that of the commencement of the new year; and its\n  institution is attributed to the celebrated Jemsheed, who, according\n  to the traditions of the country, and the fragments yet preserved\n  of its early native historians, was the sixth in descent from Noah,\n  and the fourth sovereign of Persia, of the race of Kaiomurs, the\n  grandson of Noah.... But to return to the feast of the Nowroose. It\n  is acknowledged to have been celebrated from the earliest ages, in\n  Persia, independent of whatever religions reigned there; whether the\n  simple worship of the One Great Being, or under the successive rites\n  of Magian, Pagan, or Mahomedan institutions.\u201d (_Travels_, vol. i. p.\n  316.)\n\nThis equinoctial and solar year, as the writer proceeds to point out,\nis adhered to by the Persians, though they, being Mahomedans, also\ncelebrate Mahomedan lunar festivals, and for many purposes make use of\nthe Mahomedan lunar year.\n\nIt is easy to see how greatly the Persian Nowroose differs from the\npurely lunar Mahomedan anniversaries--anniversaries which in the course\nof about thirty-two and a half years necessarily make a complete\ncircuit through the seasons. The difference, though not so marked,\nwhich exists between the purely solar Nowroose, and all soli-lunar\nfestivals, such as those of the Babylonians, should also be taken note\nof. These last, like our Easter, were dependent on the phases of the\nmoon, and were therefore \u201cmoveable.\u201d The Persian Nowroose, like our\nChristmas Day, is an \u201cimmoveable\u201d festival--fixed to the day of the\nspring equinox.\n\nModern tradition concerning the distinctively Persian custom of\ncelebrating the Nowroose would, if it stood alone, furnish very slight\ngrounds on which to found a far-reaching theory; but historical\nevidence confirms this tradition to a great extent, by teaching us that\nthe Median and Persian worshippers of Ahura Mazda, and of Mithras,\ncertainly under the Sassinide dynasty, and almost with equal certainty\nunder the Ach\u00e6menid kings, kept their calendar and celebrated their\nreligious festivals in a manner differing from that of the surrounding\nnations; their months were not lunar, their years were not soli-lunar\nbut distinctly solar, and the spring equinox was the date to which as\nclosely as possible the beginning of their year was fixed.\n\nIn Darmesteter\u2019s translation of the _Zend Avesta_ the Persian months\nare treated of in Appendix C, p. 33, and in Appendix D, p. 37, we read\nof the Persian years:--\n\n  \u201cL\u2019ann\u00e9e \u00e9tait divis\u00e9e en quatre saisons, correspondant aux n\u00f4tres.\n  Cette division ne para\u00eet gu\u00e8re que dans les textes post-avest\u00e9ens;\n  mais il y a dans l\u2019Avesta m\u00eame des traces de son existence ancienne.\n  La division normale de l\u2019ann\u00e9e est, dans l\u2019Avesta, en deux saisons,\n  \u00e9t\u00e9 et hiver; l\u2019\u00e9t\u00e9, _hama_, qui comprend les sept premiers mois (du\n  1^{er} Farvard\u00een au 30 Mihr, soit du 21 mars au 16 octobre).... Cette\n  division a une valeur religieuse, non seulement pour le rituel, mais\n  aussi pour les pratiques, qui varient selon la saison.\u201d\n\nThe worship of the Persian sun-god Mithras was introduced into Rome\nabout the time of the fall of the Republic. How far this worship\ndiffered from that taught in the Zoroastrian writings we need not\ninquire; however changed it may have been, it was evidently derived\noriginally from a Persian or a Median source. The worship of Mithras,\nin spite of much opposition, gained many followers in Rome. The\nbirthday of the sun-god was kept at the winter solstice, but the great\nfestivities in his honour, \u201c_the mysteries of Mithras_,\u201d were as a rule\ncelebrated at the season of the spring equinox,[33] and were famous\neven among Roman festivals. Let us now turn our attention to the Tauric\nsymbolism so closely connected with Mithraic observances in Rome.\n\n  [33] Cumont, in the first volume of his _Monuments figur\u00e9s relatifs\n  aux myst\u00e8res de Mithra_, p. 326, having spoken of the solstitial\n  festival in honour of the birthday of the god, observes as follows:\n  \u201cNous avons certaines raisons de croire que les \u00e9quinoxes \u00e9taient\n  aussi des jours f\u00e9ri\u00e9s o\u00f9 l\u2019on inaugurait par quelque salutation\n  le retour des Saisons divinis\u00e9es. Les initiations avaient lieu de\n  pr\u00e9f\u00e9rence vers le d\u00e9but du printemps, en mars ou en avril....\u201d\n\n  A writer in the _Athen\u00e6um_ thus describes a Roman Mithr\u00e6um:[34]\n  \u201cDiscovery was made during some excavations at Ostia of a handsome\n  house containing among its various rooms a _mithr\u00e6um_.... Into\n  the kitchen opens a narrow and tortuous passage, from which by a\n  small half-concealed staircase the _mithr\u00e6um_ is reached; ... it\n  is quadrangular and regular in shape, as is usually the case in\n  buildings of the kind. Almost the whole length of the two lateral\n  walls run two seats, and on the side opposite the door is seen a\n  little elevation, which served as the place for the usual statue\n  of Mithras in the act of thrusting his dagger into the neck of the\n  mystic Bull. A very singular peculiarity of this little Ostian\n  _mithr\u00e6um_ is that it is entirely covered with mosaics--pavements,\n  seats, and walls alike. The various figures and the symbols are\n  splendidly drawn, and all executed in black _tesser\u00e6_ on a white\n  ground. Upon each side of the seats, turned to the entrance door, is\n  figured a genius bearing a lamp, that is, the genius of the spring\n  equinox, with the face raised, and that of the autumn equinox, with\n  the face cast down.... It is known, in fact, that the whole myth of\n  Mithras is related to the phases of the sun ... hence are represented\n  in the ground below the seats all the twelve signs of the zodiac, by\n  means of the usual symbols, but each accompanied by a large star.\u201d\n\n  [34] _Athen\u00e6um_, 1886, October 30 and November 6.\n\nIn the many sculptures of the Mithras group similar to that above\ndescribed, which have been so well figured in Lajard\u2019s _Culte de\nMithras_, various heavenly bodies are represented. The Scorpion (the\nconstellation Scorpio of the Zodiac opposed to Taurus) joins with\nMithras in his attack upon the Bull, and always the genii of the spring\nand autumn equinoxes are present in joyous and mournful attitudes.\n\nIn looking at these plates the conviction is clearly forced upon our\nminds that the Bull so persistently, and, it may be added, so serenely,\nslain by Mithras in these Roman representations, is the Zodiacal Bull,\novercome, and as it were destroyed or banished from heaven, in the\ndaytime by the sun-god, and at night by Scorpio, the constellation in\nopposition. With almost equal conviction we arrive at the conclusion\nthat this triumph of Mithras was associated traditionally--in Roman\ndays it could only have been traditionally--with the occurrence, at a\nremote date, of the spring equinox during the time that the sun was in\nconjunction with the constellation Taurus.\n\nIn the ruins of Persepolis, ruins of buildings designed, erected, and\ndecorated by the worshippers of the supreme God Ahura Mazda, and of\nhis friend and representative Mithras, Tauric symbolism abounds. We do\nnot amongst these ruins find portrayals of Mithras as a youth wearing\na Phrygian cap, and \u201cthrusting his dagger into the neck of the mystic\nBull,\u201d but again and again, in the bas-reliefs adorning the walls,\nwe do find a colossal being thrusting his dagger into the body of a\nstill more \u201cmystic\u201d creature than the Bull of the Roman sculptures--a\ncreature combining in one instance at least[35] the attributes of Bull,\nLion, Scorpion, and Eagle, and frequently those of two or more of these\nanimals.\n\n  [35] See Plate IV.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE IV.\n\nPers\u00e9polis. Combat du roi et du griffon. Palais n^{o} 3.\n\nPerrot et Chipiez. _Histoire de l\u2019Art dans l\u2019Antiquit\u00e9_, Tome v.\nopposite page 547.\n\n[_To face p. 64._]\n\nPerrot and Chipiez have supposed this constantly repeated scene to\nrepresent imaginary contests between the reigning monarch and all\npossible or impossible monsters, but a very different impression was\nproduced on the mind of Ker Porter by these same bas-reliefs; and\nthough he did not adopt a purely astronomic theory to explain them, he\nwas firmly convinced that the combat depicted was not one waged between\nan ordinary human being and an ordinary or extraordinary animal, but\nthat it was a symbolical representation of the combat constantly\ncarried on by Ormuzd (Ahura Mazda), and by his representative Mithras,\nagainst the powers of evil and darkness.[36]\n\n  [36] \u201cThe man who contends with the animals ... is represented as a\n  person of a singularly dignified mien, clad in long draperied robes,\n  but with the arms perfectly bare. His hair, which is full and curled,\n  is bound with a circlet or low diadem; and his sweeping pointed beard\n  is curled at different heights, in the style that was worn by majesty\n  alone.... The calmness of his air, contrasted with the firmness\n  with which he grasps the animals, and strikes to his aim, gives\n  a certainty to his object, and a sublimity to his figure, beyond\n  anything that would have been in the power of more elaborate action\n  or ornament to effect. From the unchanged appearance of the hero,\n  his unvaried mode of attack, its success, and the unaltered style of\n  opposition adopted by every one of the animals in the contest, I can\n  have no doubt that they all mean different achievements towards one\n  great aim....\u201d--Ker Porter\u2019s _Travels_, vol. i. p. 672.\n\nWith the astronomic clue to Persian symbolism put into our hands by\nthe Roman sculptures, of which mention has been made, and by a study\nof the researches of Lajard, it is not difficult to recognize in the\ncomposite animals represented on the bas-reliefs allusions not only to\nthe Zodiacal Bull, traditionally associated with the spring equinox,\nbut also to three other constellations which at the same date of the\nworld\u2019s history (namely, from 4,000 to 2,000 B.C.) marked more or less\naccurately the remaining colures, _i.e._ the Lion, the Scorpion, and\nthe Eagle.\n\nThe constellations of the Lion and the Scorpion, there can be no doubt,\nwere appropriate star marks for the summer and autumn seasons, when the\nspring equinoctial point was in the Bull,[37] but as regards the Eagle\nit must be admitted that though it adjoins the Zodiacal Aquarius (the\nconstellation in which the winter solstitial point was then situated),\nyet its principal stars lie considerably to the north and west of that\nconstellation.\n\n  [37] The solstitial and equinoctial colures were situated, speaking\n  in round numbers, for 2,000 years in the constellations Taurus, Leo,\n  Scorpio, and Aquarius.\n\nA reason for the substitution of the Eagle (Aquila) for the Zodiacal\nWater-man or Water-jar (Aquarius or Amphora) may, however, be found in\nthe fact of the very great brilliancy of the star Altair in the Eagle.\nIt is a star of the first magnitude. In the Water-man there is no star\nabove the third. The Persians, we are told, had a tradition that four\nbrilliant stars marked the four cardinal points (_i.e._ the colures).\nIn Taurus, Leo, and Scorpio we find stars of the first magnitude:\nthere was therefore no temptation for Mithraic calendar makers and\nmythologists to seek for an extra-Zodiacal star to mark and represent\nthe spring, summer, or autumn seasons; but for the winter solstice the\nonly stars of the first magnitude within at all suitable distance were\nAquila, to the north-west, or Fomalhaut to the south of Aquarius. For a\nnation dwelling as far to the north as the Medians are supposed to have\ndone, Fomalhaut (when the winter solstice was in Aquarius very far to\nthe south of the equator) would have been rarely visible. The choice by\na Median astronomer and symbolic artist in search of a very brilliant\nstar mark for the solstice would therefore have been restricted to the\nconstellation of the Eagle, containing the conspicuous Altair, a star\nof the first magnitude.\n\nThe very constant association, not only in Persian and Median, but\nalso in the mythologic art of other nations, of the Lion and the\nEagle, seems to confirm the view here put forward, _i.e._ that the\nconstellations of Leo and Aquila rather than of Leo and Aquarius were\nsometimes chosen to symbolise the summer and winter solstices.\n\nThe Griffin, a fabulous animal sacred to the sun, composed of a _Lion_\nand an _Eagle_, is a well-known figure in ancient classic art.\n\nIn Babylonian and Assyrian sculptured and glyptic art Merodach is often\nrepresented as in conflict with a Griffin. Merodach has been claimed\nby Jensen and other writers as a personification of the sun of the\nspring equinox. The for ever recurring triumph of spring over winter is\nprobably figured in Merodach\u2019s triumph over the Griffin.\n\nThe association of Eagle and Lion is to be noticed in the arms of the\ncity of Lagash; they were \u201ca double-headed Eagle standing on a Lion\npassant or on two demi-lions placed back to back.\u201d[38] In Lagash, as\nwas pointed out in a former paper, the new year\u2019s festival appears\nto have been held at the winter solstice: such a supposition would\nfurnish an astronomical interpretation for the arms of Lagash.[39]\n\n  [38] Maspero, _Dawn of Civilization_, p. 604.\n\n  [39] In this connexion the following passage from Sayce\u2019s _Hibbert\n  Lectures_, p. 261, is interesting:--\n\n  A text copied for Assur-banipal, from a tablet originally written\n  at Babylon, contains part of a hymn which had to be recited \u201cin the\n  presence of Bel-Merodach ... in the beginning of Nisan,\u201d--\n\n    \u201c... O Zamama,\n    Why dost thou not take thy seat?\n    Bahu, the Queen of Kis, has not cried to thee.\u201d\n\n  He adds in a note that Zamama was the Sun-god of Kis, and was\n  consequently identified with Adar by the mythologists. On a\n  contract-stone he is symbolized by an eagle, which is said to be \u201cthe\n  image of the southern sun of Kis.\u201d\n\n  It was claimed in a former paper (Feb. 1896) that \u201c_the Southern\n  sun_\u201d was \u201c_the sun of the winter solstice_,\u201d and that Gula (=\n  Bahu) was the name of the constellation, or of some stars in the\n  constellation Aquarius (V. p. 50). In these lines Bahu, as I have\n  supposed, Aquarius, and Zamama, symbolised by the _Eagle, the image\n  of the Southern sun or winter solstice_, are closely associated.\n\nMythological references to the Eagle alone are also to be met with\nwhich point to the Celestial Eagle (Aquila) marking the winter solstice\nin lieu of the constellation Aquarius, as for instance the Babylonian\nlegend of the ambitious storm-bird, Zu,[40] who stole the tablets of\ndestiny, and thus sought to vie in power with \u201cthe great gods.\u201d Here\nwe may find allusions to the substitution (deemed by some, no doubt,\nunauthorized) of an extra-Zodiacal for a Zodiacal constellation.\n\n  [40] Maspero, _Dawn of Civilization_, p. 666.\n\nAgain, in Grecian mythology the Eagle is sent by Zeus to carry Ganymede\nup to heaven, and in Grecian astronomy Ganymede is placed in the\nconstellation Aquarius. It does not therefore seem unreasonable to\nsuppose that the Eagle associated in the Persepolitan bas-reliefs\nwith the Lion, the Bull, and the Scorpion (as at Plate IV.), is the\nconstellational Eagle, symbolizing the winter solstice, and that the\ncompound animal is emblematic of the four seasons of the year, and\nalso, it may be, of the four quarters of the world.\n\nIf to the composite monster of the bas-reliefs we ascribe an astronomic\nmotive, we shall be ready to grant the same to other Tauric symbolisms\nprominent in the Persepolitan ruins.\n\nWith full conviction we shall recognize in the demi-bulls which crowned\nthe columns in Persepolis and Susa representations of the demi-bull\nof the Zodiac. The resemblance is so striking that words are scarcely\nrequired to point it out when once the outlines of the two figures\nhave been compared (Plate V.). In the spirited description of these\ncapitals, quoted here from Perrot and Chipiez,[41] are some lines,\nmarked with italics, which might be applied with exactness to the\ndemi-bulls of the Zodiac.\n\n  [41] _Histoire de l\u2019Art dans l\u2019antiquit\u00e9_, Perse, p. 519.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE V.\n\nTHE CONSTELLATION TAURUS\n\nCAPITAL FROM SUSA\n\n[_To face p. 70._]\n\n  \u201cOn ne saurait cependant ne point admirer le grand go\u00fbt et l\u2019art\n  ing\u00e9nieux avec lequel, dans ses bustes de taureau, il [l\u2019artiste\n  perse] a pli\u00e9 la forme vivante au n\u00e9cessit\u00e9s de la d\u00e9coration\n  architecturale. Il a su la simplifier sans lui enlever l\u2019accent de\n  la vie; les traits caract\u00e9ristiques de l\u2019esp\u00e8ce sur laquelle s\u2019est\n  port\u00e9 son choix restent franchement accus\u00e9s, quoique les menus\n  d\u00e9tails soient \u00e9limin\u00e9s; ils auraient risqu\u00e9 de distraire et de\n  troubler le regard. Les poils de la nuque et du dos, de l\u2019\u00e9paule,\n  des fanons, et des flancs sont r\u00e9unis en masses d\u2019un ferme contour,\n  auquelles la frisure des boucles dont elles se composent donne un\n  relief plus vigoureux; en m\u00eame temps le collier qui pend au col,\n  orn\u00e9 de rosaces et d\u2019un riche fleuron qui tombe sur la poitrine,\n  \u00e9carte toute id\u00e9e de r\u00e9alit\u00e9; ce sont l\u00e0 des \u00eatres sacr\u00e9s et presque\n  divins, que l\u2019imagination de l\u2019artiste a comme cr\u00e9\u00e9s \u00e0 nouveau et\n  model\u00e9s \u00e0 son gr\u00e9 pour les adapter \u00e0 la fonction qu\u2019elle leur donnait\n  \u00e0 remplir. Cependant, tout plac\u00e9 qu\u2019il soit en dehors des conditions\n  de la nature, l\u2019animal n\u2019a pas perdu sa physionomie propre. Dans le\n  mouvement de _la t\u00eate, l\u00e9g\u00e8rement inclin\u00e9e en avant et sur la c\u00f4t\u00e9_,\n  on sent la force indompt\u00e9e qui anime ce corps ample et puissant.\n  Hardiment indiqu\u00e9es, la construction et la musculature des _membres\n  inf\u00e9rieurs, repli\u00e9s sous le ventre_, laissent deviner de quel \u00e9lan le\n  taureau se l\u00e8verait et se dresserait en pied, s\u2019il venait \u00e0 se lasser\n  de son \u00e9ternel repos. J\u2019en ai fait plusieurs fois l\u2019exp\u00e9rience au\n  Louvre, devant la partie de chapiteau colossal que notre mus\u00e9e doit \u00e0\n  M. Dieulafoy: parmi les visiteurs qui se pressaient dans cette salle,\n  parmi ceux m\u00eames qui semblaient le moins pr\u00e9par\u00e9s \u00e0 \u00e9prouver ce genre\n  d\u2019impressions, il n\u2019en est pas un qui n\u2019ait; subi le charme, qui de\n  mani\u00e8re ou d\u2019autre, n\u2019ait rendu hommage \u00e0 la noblesse et \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9trange\n  beaut\u00e9 de ce type singulier.\u201d\n\nFor the exquisite columns crowned by these Tauric capitals the same\nwriters have claimed a distinctively Median origin. This claim they\nsustain at great length, and with much architectural learning.\nThey show that in their proportions, and in every detail of their\nornamentation, the Persepolitan differed from the Ninevite, Grecian, or\nEgyptian column. They also point out that nowhere except at Persepolis\nand at Susa is the demi-bull of the capital to be met with; and yet\nthey express the opinion that this feature, so far as is known proper\nto Persia, was mainly derived from, or helped at least by, the models\nof Assyria.\n\nVery close resemblances can indeed be traced in Medo-Persian to\nAssyrian art, and as the Medo-Persian buildings, whose ruins are at\nPersepolis and Susa, were erected certainly at a later date than the\npalaces of the Assyrian kings discovered on the site of Nineveh, it is\nnatural to attribute, as Perrot and Chipiez, and nearly all writers on\nthe subject attribute, such resemblances to imitations of Assyrian art\nand symbolism on the part of the Medo-Persians.\n\nThere are, however, some considerations which make it difficult to\nadopt this view. In the first place, the symbolism supposed to have\nbeen copied by the Medo-Persians was religious symbolism, and the\nreligion of the Aryan Medo-Persians was very different from that of the\nSemitic Assyrians.\n\nThe Ach\u00e6menid kings who built their palaces at Persepolis claimed\nconstantly that they were worshippers of the one great Lord Ahura\nMazda, of whom Mithras was the friend and representative. That these\nkings should have adopted from the polytheistic Assyrians not only the\nTauric symbolism above described, but also, as it is suggested, the\nemblem of their one great Lord Ahura Mazda from that of Assur (see\nPlate VI. figs. 1, 2, 3), would in itself be strange, but that they\nshould have done so when Assur and all his followers had been utterly\nvanquished by the victorious worshippers of Ahura Mazda, seems still\nmore improbable.\n\nFrom the state in which the ruins of Nineveh were when discovered by\nLayard it is easy to see that, from the very day of the sacking of\nthe city, it had for the most part been left just as it fell. It may\nhave been rifled of its material wealth, but its literary and artistic\ntreasures were left uncared for and undesired. A few hundred years\nlater the very site of Nineveh was unknown.\n\nThe great city would not have been treated with such neglect had the\nMedo-Persian artists turned to it for inspiration and for themes of\nsymbolic art with which to decorate the palaces of Persepolis.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE VI.\n\nFIG. 1.\n\nThe Assyrian god Assur.\n\nFIG. 2.\n\nThe Assyrian god Assur.\n\nFIG. 3.\n\nThe Median god Ahura Mazda.\n\nFIG. 4.\n\nWestern portion of Constellation Sagittarius and the Constellation\nCorona Australis.\n\n[_To face p. 74._]\n\nThe resemblance, however, between Medo-Persian and Ninevite art is in\nmany instances so striking that some way of accounting for it must\nbe sought, and those who are dissatisfied with one explanation will\nnaturally look about to find some alternative suggestion.\n\nThe alternative suggestion I would now propose is that _the progenitors\nof the Assyrians at an early period of the world\u2019s history borrowed\nTauric and other religious symbolisms from the ancestors of the Medes_.\n\nIn support of this theory the following considerations are put forward:\n\nTauric symbolism, if it is at all astronomic, points us back to a\nvery remote date for its first institution, to a date considerably\nearlier than that at which the existence of the Assyrian people as an\nindependent nation is generally put. The symbolism already discussed\nmust, at the latest, have been originated about 2,000 B.C. Of the\nAssyrians as a nation we have no monumental proof earlier than 1,700\nB.C.\n\nBut further, in the symbol of Ahura and Assur, I believe an astronomic\nreference may be traced to the position of the colures amongst the\nconstellations, a reference which points us back not merely to a date\nbetween 4,000 and 2,000 B.C., but rather, and with curious precision,\nto the furthest limit of the time mentioned, namely to 4,000 B.C.\n\nTo penetrate into the meaning of this symbol of Ahura we must study\nboth the Median and Assyrian representations of the figure presiding\nover the winged disc, and we may also seek for further light to be\nthrown upon it by other references in Assyrian art to the god Assur.\n\nAhura presiding over the winged circle holds in his hand a ring or\ncrown; Assur in some examples is similarly furnished; but more often he\nappears armed with bow and arrows. In this figure, variously equipped,\nI believe that the heavenly Archer, the Zodiacal Sagittarius (Plate VI.\nfig. 4), is to be recognized--Sagittarius, the constellation in which\nthe autumnal equinoctial point was situated, speaking in round numbers,\nfrom 6,000 to 4,000 B.C.\n\nThe fact that a crown or wreath or ring often replaces the bow and\narrows in the hand of Ahura and of Assur might at first sight make us\ndoubtful as to the connexion of the figure with the constellation\nSagittarius, but a glance at the celestial globe will rather make this\nfact tell in favour of the astronomical suggestion here made: for\nthere we find close to the hand of the Archer the ancient Ptolemaic\nconstellation Corona Australis (the Southern Crown), actually\nincorporated with the Zodiacal constellation Sagittarius.\n\nNot only do Assur\u2019s bow and crown remind us of Sagittarius, but his\nhorned tiara, resembling so closely that worn by the man-headed\nAssyrian bulls, inclines us to look for some astronomic and Tauric\nallusion in this Assyrian and Median symbol.\n\nTrue it is that, speaking generally, Gemini and not Taurus is the\nconstellation of the Zodiac opposed to Sagittarius, but owing to the\nirregularity in the shape and size of the portions assigned in the\necliptic to the Zodiacal constellations, the extreme western degrees\nof Sagittarius are opposed to the extreme eastern degrees of Taurus.\nTherefore about 4,000 B.C. the equinoctial colure passed through the\nconstellations of the Archer and the Bull.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn the Assyrian Standard (depicted in Layard\u2019s _Monuments of Nineveh_,\nPlate XXII.) we see the figure of an Archer above that of a galloping\nBull, and in another Assyrian Standard, that of Sargon II., we find\nnot only the Archer and the Bull, the two constellations which 4,000\nB.C. marked the _equinoctial_ colure, but we may also clearly trace a\nreference to the two constellations which at the same date marked the\n_solstitial_ colure, namely, those of the Lion and the Water-man (Plate\nVII.).\n\n[Illustration: PLATE VII.\n\nStandard of Sargon II., King of Assyria, 722-705 B.C.\n\nPerrot et Chipiez. _Histoire de l\u2019Art dans l\u2019Antiquit\u00e9_, Tome v.\nopposite page 508.\n\n[_To face p. 79._]\n\nHere the _Archer_ dominates over a circle in which symmetrically\nduplicated _Bulls_ appear, and duplicated _Lions\u2019_ heads emerge out of\nwhat appears to be a hollow vessel resembling a _water jar_; the wavy\nlines that traverse the disc suggest streams that unitedly pour their\nwaters into this jar. Below the jar again are to be seen halved and\ndoubled heads, partly Lion and partly Bull.\n\nThis Standard of Assur may (like the Persepolitan monster earlier\ndescribed) be considered as an astronomic monogram representing the\nfour constellations which marked the four seasons of the year, and the\nfour quarters of the earth.\n\nThe monogram of the Standard refers us back, however, to an earlier\ndate for its origin than does the monogram of the composite animal in\nthe Persepolitan bas-relief, for in the Standard the Archer is opposed\nto the Bull, in the bas-relief the Scorpion takes the place of the\nArcher, and the Eagle takes the place of the Water-man.\n\nThe precession of the equinoxes advances from east to west amongst\nthe stars. Therefore the Scorpion marked the colure at a later date\nthan did the Archer. The Eagle, as has already been pointed out, is\nconsiderably to the west of Aquarius, and could scarcely have been\nchosen as a substitute for that constellation when the colure was in\nits extreme eastern degrees.\n\nAt Plate VIII. is given the position of the colures at 4,000 B.C.; not\nmuch earlier or much later than this date can we place the _origin_ of\nthe symbolism in the Standard shown at Plate VII. Earlier _not_ Leo\nand Aquarius, but Virgo and Pisces, would have marked the solstitial\ncolure. Later _not_ Sagittarius, but Scorpio, would have in opposition\nto Taurus marked the equinoctial colure.\n\nAt this date, 4,000 B.C., suggested with such curious accuracy by this\nAssyrian Standard, we have absolutely no trace of the existence of the\n_Semitic nation of the Assyrians_ in Northern Mesopotamia. In Babylonia\ntwo hundred years later the Semitic Sargon I. ruled at Accad. In the\nastrological work drawn up, if not for Sargon yet, as we may judge from\ninternal evidence, for some king of Accad, no mention is made of the\nAssyrian nation.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE VIII.\n\nPosition of Colures amongst the Constellations at the dates 4,500-4,000\nand 3,500 B.C.\n\n[_To face p. 80._]\n\nThe Ph\u0153nicians, the Hittites, the Kings of Gutium, and the \u201cUmman\nManda\u201d are then the dreaded foes of Accad. Of the Manda we read as\nfollows: \u201cThe Umman Manda comes and governs the land. The mercy seats\nof the great gods are taken away. Bel goes to Elam.\u201d\n\nProfessor Sayce is opposed to the view that the Manda are necessarily\nidentical with the Medes; but he admits that Herodotus, following the\nauthority of Medo-Persian writers, claimed as Median the victories of\nthe Manda.[42]\n\n  [42] _Proceedings_, vol. xviii. Part vi. pp. 176, 177.\n\nIf now on the authority of Herodotus and the Medo-Persian writers we\nassume, at least as a possibility, that these Manda were Medes, we\nshould expect to find them worshippers of Ahura Mazda. Ahura, it is on\nall hands admitted, is the Iranian form of the Vedic Asura, just as\nMithras is the Iranian form of the Vedic Mitra. At whatever date the\nseparation between Iranian and Vedic Aryans took place, the worship of\nAhura (still probably under the form Asura) must have existed amongst\nthe Iranians; indeed, many have supposed that the monotheistic reform\nwhich placed one great Ahura or Asura above all other Asuras, and above\nthe Devas, occasioned the separation of these two great Aryan races.\n\nIt is for the Lord Ahura, called, as here supposed, Asura, in early\ntimes, by the Aryan Manda, that I would claim the astronomical symbol\nof the Archer presiding over the circle of the ecliptic, or, in other\nwords, over the circle of the year, and of a year beginning at the\nspring equinox--a year, as has already been pointed out, distinctively\nMedian.\n\nAccording then to this supposition, a powerful Median race was\nestablished in the vicinity of Babylonia early in the fourth millennium\nB.C.--a race who worshipped one great Lord, first under the name of\nAsura, afterwards under that of Ahura.\n\nIt is for these Aryan Manda or Medes that I would claim, at the date\nof 4,000 B.C., the original conception of the astronomic monogram in\nwhich so plainly may be read an allusion to the four constellations\nof the Zodiac, which at that date marked the four seasons and the four\ncardinal points, _i.e._ Sagittarius and Taurus, Aquarius and Leo. This\nmonogram was used as a Standard thousands of years later by the Semitic\nAssyrians.\n\nTo the Manda or Medes, also, I would, as has been suggested, attribute\nthe first imagining of the astronomic emblem common to Ahura and\nAssur--that of the divine Being presiding over the circle of the\necliptic.\n\nBerosus mentions a Median dynasty as having reigned in Babylon for one\nor two hundred years. Let us now suppose that the Manda for more than a\nthousand years held power in _Northern_ Mesopotamia, but that at last\nthe tide of conquest turned, and after many struggles with the Semites\nin the south the Aryans were finally driven from the land now known as\nAssyria, and a Semite race firmly settled in the regions from whence\nin Sargon\u2019s time the Umman Manda had threatened the inhabitants of the\nKingdom of Accad. That this was the case about 2,200 B.C. may perhaps\nbe gathered from the monuments of \u1e2aammurabi, the Semitic king of\nBabylon, for he refers in his letters to his troops in _Assyria_, and\nin a lately discovered inscription of this king he speaks of restoring\nto the city of _Assur_ its propitious genie, and of honouring Istar in\nthe city of Nineveh.\n\nTo account for the existence of the Assyrian nation, their close\nresemblance in language and race to the ruling Semitic class in\nBabylon, and yet to explain the great difference in the religion of\nthese two peoples, has always been a difficulty.\n\nThe Assyrians worshipped, and worshipped with enthusiasm, all the\nBabylonian gods; but high above the whole Babylonian Pantheon they\nplaced as their supreme and great Lord Assur--Assur whose very name is\nnot to be met with in Babylonian mythology. This difficulty I would\nexplain in the following manner.\n\nWhen the Medes had, by \u1e2aammurabi or his successors, been driven out\nof Northern Mesopotamia, they were replaced by Semitic settlers who\n(like the settlers sent into Samaria more than a thousand years later\nby a king of Assyria) adopted, to a certain extent, the religion of\nthe nation whom they had dispossessed. In 2 Kings xvii. we read\nthat in this parallel instance \u201cthe king of Assyria brought men from\nBabylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from\nSepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the\nchildren of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities\nthereof.\u201d Later in the same chapter we read that in order to appease,\nas they believed, the wrath of the \u201cGod of the land,\u201d these idolatrous\nsettlers, retaining in full the worship of all their own gods, added to\nit a worship of the Lord of the dispossessed Israelites.\n\nI would suppose then that the polytheistic Semites, who in \u1e2aammurabi\u2019s\ntime were settled in Northern Mesopotamia, had acted in a similar\nmanner. Coming into a region where for nearly 2,000 years the\nmonotheistic Medes or Manda had been established, they, to avert\nthe wrath of the _god of the land_, adopted to a certain extent his\nworship. In fact, like the Samaritans, \u201cthey feared the Lord [Asura],\nand served their own gods.\u201d\n\nThis explanation of the difference in religion between the Babylonians\nand the Assyrians seems to yield also an explanation of the\nresemblances between the Assyrian and Median religions, or rather of\nthe resemblances between the religious art of the two peoples; and thus\nwe return to the problem proposed for discussion earlier in this Paper,\nnamely, the inadequacy of the generally held opinion which accounts for\nthe resemblances in Persepolitan and Ninevite symbolic art by supposing\nthat the Medes borrowed from the Assyrians.\n\nIn support of the alternative suggestion put forward at p. 75, that\n_the progenitors of the Assyrians at an early period of the worlds\nhistory borrowed Tauric and other religious symbolisms from the\nancestors of the Medes_, I would claim that the Assyrians borrowed not\nonly religious symbolisms, but even the very name of their god Assur\nfrom the Medes. For I look upon Assur as a \u201cloan word\u201d adopted from the\nAryan Asura.\n\nTo the Medes or Manda, who were, as has been argued, in power in\nNorthern Mesopotamia about 4,000 B.C., I have attributed the origin\nof the astronomic Assyrian and Ahurian emblem. To them, on the same\ngrounds, I attribute the first imagining of the astronomic Assyrian\nStandard, and the devising of the man-headed and winged monsters\nso well known as \u201cAssyrian Bulls\u201d; and to them I would, with full\nconviction, leave the honour of having invented, and not borrowed, the\nidea of the magnificent Tauric capitals that crowned the columns of\nPersepolis and Susa.\n\nTo all these conclusions I have been led by a consideration of the\ndistinctively equinoctial character of the Median calendar, taken in\nconnexion with the importance given in Median art to the constellation\nTaurus.\n\n\nV\n\nASTRONOMY IN THE RIG VEDA\n\n  [Reprinted from the Report of the _Actes_ of the Twelfth Oriental\n  Congress held at Rome]\n\nNot much more than a hundred years ago the Sanscrit language began\nto yield to the study of Europeans some of its literary treasures.\nAlmost on the moment, a controversy arose as to the antiquity of the\nscience of astronomy in India; for scholars were amazed to find in\nthis already long dead language many learned astronomical treatises,\nbesides complete instructions for calculating, year by year, the Hindu\ncalendar, as also for calculating horoscopes.\n\nSome then proclaimed the wonderful facts revealed, and extolled the\nantiquity and accuracy of this Indian science, while others, noticing\nthe many points of resemblance between European and Indian methods,\nsupposed, and warmly advocated the opinion, that much of the astronomy\ncontained in Sanscrit works had been borrowed from the Greeks.\n\nSir William Jones was amongst the first to enter the lists against this\nGrecian theory; and he thus throws down his glove in defence of the\nantiquity and originality of the science of astronomy in India.\n\n\u201cI engage to support an opinion (which the learned and industrious\nM. Montucla seems to treat with extreme contempt) that the _Indian_\ndivision of the Zodiack was not borrowed from the _Greeks_ or _Arabs_,\nbut, having been known in this country (India) for time immemorial,\nand being the same in part with that used by other nations of the old\n_Hindu_ race, was probably invented by the first progenitors of that\nrace before their dispersion.\u201d[43]\n\n  [43] _On the Antiquity of the Indian Zodiack. Complete Works_, vol.\n  i. p. 333.\n\nSince Sir William Jones wrote this challenge, and supported it with\nwhatever linguistic and scientific resources were at his command,\nvolumes of heated controversy by many authors have been devoted to the\nsame subject.\n\nJust at present, however, an almost indifferent calmness has taken\nthe place of the excited interest formerly manifested. The majority\nof scholars, both European and Indian, appear to have accepted, as an\naxiom, the opinion that much of Indian astronomy, and certainly the\nIndian acquaintance with the twelve-fold division of the Zodiac, is to\nbe attributed to Grecian influence.\n\nA minority of writers still hold the view advocated by Sir William\nJones about a hundred years ago, and thus reiterated by Burgess\n(the translator of the Indian standard astronomical work the\n_S\u00fbrya-Siddh\u00e2nta_) in 1860. \u201cThe use of this (twelve-fold) division,\nand the present names of the signs, can be proved to have existed in\nIndia at as early a period as in any other country.\u201d[44]\n\n  [44] _Journal of the American Oriental Society_, vol. vi. p. 477.\n\nThe minority who hold this view are so few at present that, as has been\nsaid, the majority rest in their opposed opinion in all the calmness of\nconviction.\n\nI will now as briefly as possible state the chief arguments put\nforward, for and against, this conviction.\n\nI. In favour of the comparatively late introduction into India of the\ntwelve-fold division of the Zodiac, it is contended that the divisions\nof the Indian Solar Zodiac so closely resemble those of the Grecian\n(the Zodiac which we to this day depict on celestial globes), that it\nis not possible to believe that two nations or two sets of astronomers\ncould independently of each other have imagined the same fanciful and\napparently inconsequent series.\n\nHistory does not tell of communication between Greece and India,\nsufficient to account for this similarity of astronomical method, till\nafter the date of Alexander\u2019s conquest--about 300 B.C. The Greeks could\nnot at that late date have first become acquainted with the figures of\nthe Zodiac, for in Grecian literature of a much earlier age the figures\nof the Zodiac and other constellations are alluded to as already\nperfectly well known. As the Greeks therefore could not have learnt all\ntheir astronomic lore from the Indians, the Indians must have learnt\ntheirs from the Greeks at some date later than Alexander\u2019s Eastern\nconquests.\n\nA corroboration of this opinion is drawn from the consideration that,\nin the most ancient Sanscrit work in existence--the purely Indian\nRig Veda, containing no Grecian taint--the twelve-fold divisions of\nthe Zodiac appear to be unknown. This opinion as to the Rashis or\nconstellations of the Solar Zodiac is so generally adopted, that the\nage of any Sanscrit work in which mention of these Rashis occurs is at\nonce--no matter what its claims to antiquity may be--set down as not\nearlier than the comparatively modern date of 300 B.C.\n\nII. As regards the Indian Lunar Zodiac. The Indians make use at present\nfor calendrical purposes, not only of the twelve-fold Solar Zodiac,\nthey have also a series of 27 Nakshatras, or Lunar mansions (this\nis for convenience sake designated by European writers as the Lunar\nZodiac). It is admitted on all hands that the Nakshatra series was not\nderived from Grecian sources. But it is contended that the fixation of\nthe initial point of this Lunar Zodiac (a point at the end of Revat\u012b\nand the beginning of Aswin\u012b, 10 degrees west of the first point of our\nconstellation Aries) was due to an astronomical reform of the Hindu\ncalendar, probably carried out under Grecian auspices at a date not\nmuch earlier than 600 A.D. A very clear statement of this opinion is\nthus given by Whitney (the editor of Burgess\u2019 translation of the _S\u00fbrya\nSiddh\u00e2nta_):--\n\n  \u201cThe initial point of the fixed Hindu sphere from which longitudes\n  are reckoned, and at which the planetary motions are held by all\n  schools of Hindu astronomy to have commenced at the creation, is\n  the end of the asterism Revat\u00ee, or the beginning of A\u00e7vin\u00ee. Its\n  situation is most nearly marked by that of the principal star of\n  Revat\u00ee ... that star is by all authorities identified with \u03b6 Piscium,\n  of which the longitude at present, as reckoned by us, from the Vernal\n  Equinox, is 17\u00b0 54\u00b4. Making due allowance for the precession (of the\n  equinoxes), we find that it coincided in position with the vernal\n  equinox, not far from the middle of the sixth century, or about A.D.\n  570. _As such coincidence was the occasion of the point being fixed\n  upon as the beginning of the sphere_, the time of its occurrence\n  marks approximately the era of the fixation of the sphere, and of the\n  commencement of the history of modern Hindu astronomy.\u201d[45]\n\n  [45] _Journal of the American Oriental Society_, vol. vi. p. 158.\n\nIn further corroboration of this view--deduced from the astronomical\nsupposition (to which I have drawn attention by italics) put forward\nin this extract--ancient Sanscrit literature is appealed to. Hymns and\nlists referring to the Nakshatras are to be met with in the Yajur and\nAtharva Vedas, in which Krittik\u0101, now the third Nakshatra, holds the\nfirst place.\n\nThe Nakshatra Krittik\u0101 contains the group of stars known to us as the\nPleiades. The most brilliant stars in the Nakshatra Aswin\u012b are the\ntwo stars in the head of the constellation Aries (the Ram), known to\nastronomers as \u03b1 and \u03b2 Arietis.\n\nThe vernal equinoctial point coincided about 2,000 B.C. with the\nconstellation Krittik\u0101. It is considered to be most probable that on\naccount of this coincidence, at the early date when the hymns and list\nin question were composed, Krittik\u0101 was chosen as the leader of the\nNakshatra series, and hence a similar reason for the later choice of\nAswin\u012b as leader relegates it to a date not much earlier than 570 A.D.\n\nThese very briefly, as far as I have been able to gather them, are the\nchief arguments in favour of--\n\n(1) The Grecian introduction of the twelve-fold Zodiac into India about\n300 B.C.\n\n(2) The date of 570 A.D. for the fixation of the initial point of the\nIndian Zodiacs, and for the commencement of the history of Indian\nastronomy.\n\nThese propositions are based on cogent reasonings, and are maintained\nby very high authorities. The opponents of the modern theory have\nbrought and bring forward the following considerations:--\n\n  \u201cThe _Br\u00e1hmans_ were always too proud to borrow their science from\n  the _Greeks_, _Arabs_, _Moguls_, or any nation of _Ml\u00e9chch\u2019has_, as\n  they call those who are ignorant of the _V\u00e9das_, and have not studied\n  the language of the Gods; they have often quoted to me (Sir William\n  Jones) the fragment of an old verse, which they now use proverbially\n  (_na n\u00edch\u00f2 yavan\u00e1tparah_), or, \u2018_no base creature can be lower than\n  a Yavan_,\u2019 by which name they formerly meant an _Ionian_ or _Greek_,\n  and now mean a _Mogul_.\u201d[46]\n\n  [46] Sir William Jones, _The Antiquity of the Indian Zodiack,\n  Complete Works_, vol. i. p. 345.\n\nAgain the same writer points out that the resemblance between the\nIndian and the Greek Zodiac is--\n\n  \u201cnot more extraordinary than that, which has often been observed\n  between our _Gothick_ days of the week and those of the _Hindus_,\n  which are dedicated to the same luminaries, and (what is yet more\n  singular) revolve in the same order: _Ravi_, the Sun; _S\u00f3ma_, the\n  Moon; _Mangala_, Tuisco; _Budha_, Woden; _Vrihaspati_, Thor; _Sucra_,\n  Freya; _Sani_, Sater; yet no man ever imagined that the _Indians_\n  borrowed so remarkable an arrangement from the _Goths_ or _Germans_.\u201d\n\nThese considerations put forward by Sir William Jones are further\nemphasized by the reflection that not only does the Grecian theory\nentail the improbability of the proud and jealous Brahmins adopting\ninto their science and their mythology the teachings of foreigners;\nbut that it also entails the greater improbability of the two rival\nHindu sects, Brahmins and Buddhists, having at the same date and with\nequal enthusiasm adopted into their science and religious symbolism and\ncalendars the same innovations.\n\nAgain the opinion of the Greek writers at the beginning of our era\nmay be quoted as showing the high estimation in which, at that time\nof the world, Indian astronomy was held: as for instance in the life\nof Apollonius of Tyana (written about 210 A.D. by Philostratus), the\nwisdom and learning of Apollonius are set high above those of all\nhis contemporaries; but from the sages of India he is represented as\nlearning many things, especially matters of astronomy.[47]\n\n  [47] _Apollonius of Tyana_, Book iii. chapter 13.\n\nThis high opinion held by Greeks in regard to Indian astronomy may\nbe contrasted with the very moderate praise bestowed on the Grecian\nscience by Garga, a Hindu writer of, it is supposed, the first century\nB.C. He says:--\n\n  \u201cThe Yavanas (Greeks) are Mlechchas (non-Hindus, or barbarians),\n  but amongst them this science (astronomy) is well established.\n  Therefore they are honoured as Rishis (saints); how much more then an\n  astronomer who is a Brahman?\u201d[48]\n\n  [48] Romesh Chunder Dutt, _Ancient India_, p. 136.\n\nSomewhat to the same effect speaks a Hindu author of a later date,\nVar\u0101hamihira, who wrote an astronomical dissertation treating of five\ndifferent works known to him on the science of astronomy. He says:--\n\n  \u201cThere are the following Siddh\u00e2ntas: The Pauli\u015ba, the Romaka, the\n  V\u00e2sis\u1e6dha, the Saura, and the Pait\u00e1maha. Out of these five, the first\n  two (the Pauli\u015ba and Romaka, which appear to have been European\n  treatises) have been explained by L\u00e2\u1e71adeva. The Siddh\u00e2nta made by\n  Pauli\u015ba is accurate, near to it stands the Siddh\u00e1nta proclaimed by\n  Romaka; more accurate is the S\u00e1vitra (Saura)[49] (_S\u016brya Siddh\u0101nta_,\n  the _Hindu_ standard work); the two remaining ones are far from the\n  truth.\u201d[50]\n\n  [49] This opinion of Var\u0101ha has been confirmed by modern European\n  scholars. Burgess (from whose translations of the _S\u016brya Siddh\u0101nta_\n  we have already quoted) remarks, \u201cin regard to ... the amount of the\n  annual precession of the equinoxes, the relative size of the sun and\n  moon as compared with the earth, the greatest equation of the centre\n  of the sun, the Hindus are more nearly correct than the Greeks.\u201d\n  (_Journal of the American Oriental Society_, vol. vi. p. 480.)\n\n  [50] _The Pa\u00f1chasiddh\u00e2ntik\u00e2._ Edited by G. Thibaut, ch. i. \u00a7 3.\n\nThis moderate, and, as it reads, judicial opinion of Var\u0101hamihira,\ntouching the superiority of the native _S\u016brya Siddh\u0101nta_ over the\nPauli\u015ba and Romaka Siddh\u0101ntas, may be appealed to as not conveying the\nimpression that when Var\u0101ha wrote his co-religionists and scientists\nwere accepting, wholesale and with avidity, Grecian astronomic methods\nin place of their own already well-established native science. It is\ntrue that in Var\u0101ha\u2019s work many words evidently of Grecian origin are\nto be met with; and some scholars have claimed that these \u201cGreek terms\noccurring in Var\u0101hamihira\u2019s writings are conclusive proofs of the\nGreek origin of Hindu astronomy.\u201d That such terms should occur in a\nwork professedly a _resum\u00e9_ of five astronomic treatises--some of them\nIndian, and some European--can scarcely be considered as conclusive\nproof that in the writer\u2019s time no purely Indian astronomic science\nexisted. Var\u0101ha\u2019s writings suggest an author interested in comparing\nthe resemblances and the differences to be met with in home and foreign\nmethods, rather than one introducing for the first time important\nastronomic truths to the notice of his readers.\n\nIt may be further urged that the claims to antiquity in Sanscrit\nastronomical works are so well known, that those who adopt the Grecian\ntheory must necessarily throw discredit in a very wholesale manner\non all their authors. Bentley\u2019s furious diatribes may be quoted as\nan extreme example of the way in which the evidence of such Sanscrit\nclaimants to antiquity is sometimes dealt with; and it may be pointed\nout that such violent denunciation cannot be looked on as convincing\nargument.\n\n  \u201cThe fact is,\u201d writes Bentley, \u201cthat literary forgeries are now so\n  common in India, that we can hardly know what book is genuine, and\n  what not: perhaps there is not one book in a hundred, nay, probably\n  in a thousand, that is not a forgery, in some point of view or other;\n  and even those that are allowed or supposed to be genuine, are found\n  to be full of interpolations, to answer some particular ends: nor\n  need we be surprised at all this, when we consider the facilities\n  they have for forgeries, as well as their own general inclination and\n  interest in following that profession; for to give the appearance of\n  antiquity to their books and authors increases their value, at least\n  in the eyes of some. Their universal propensity to forgeries, ever\n  since the introduction of the modern system of astronomy and immense\n  periods of years, in A.D. 538, are but too well known to require\n  any further elucidation than those already given. They are under no\n  restraint of laws, human or divine, and subject to no punishment,\n  even if detected in the most flagrant literary impositions.\u201d[51]\n\n  [51] _A Historical View of the Hindu Astronomy_, etc., p. 181.\n\nIt is unnecessary now to further pursue the pros and cons of what\nhas hitherto been said and written on the vexed questions as to the\noriginality and antiquity of astronomy in India, and especially as to\nthe Indian acquaintance with the twelve-fold divisions of the Zodiac,\nand the date of the fixation of the initial point in their Zodiac. We\nhave seen that by the majority the Grecian and modern theory is the\nfavoured one.\n\nWithin the last quarter of a century, however, an unexpected\nreinforcement has come into the field, in aid of the disheartened and\nnearly silenced minority, who still believe in a great antiquity for\nthe science of astronomy in India.\n\nThe researches of arch\u00e6ologists in Western Asia have of late brought\nto our knowledge vast hoards of information concerning the ancient\ninhabitants of Babylonia and Assyria, and the surrounding highlands\nand plains; amongst other matters, concerning the science of astronomy\npossessed by these peoples.\n\nIn 1874, a Paper entitled _The Astronomy and Astrology of the\nBabylonians_ was read by Professor Sayce before the \u201cSociety of\nBiblical Arch\u00e6ology,\u201d and since that date other Papers, by various\nauthors, dealing with the subject have appeared in the same Society\u2019s\n_Proceedings_. Also in the _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Assyriologie_, articles\nhave been contributed by such writers as Epping and Strassmaier,\nOppert, Mayer, Mahler, Jensen, Lehmann, and others, in which the\ncalendars and astronomical methods in use in Mesopotamia are discussed.\n\nEpping and Strassmaier\u2019s _Astronomisches aus Babylon_ and Jensen\u2019s _Die\nKosmologie der Babylonier_, are important volumes devoted to these same\nmatters.\n\nWhatever else concerning the subject of all these writings remains\nuncertain and open to discussion, some facts are clearly established.\nWe now know that the inhabitants of Babylonia in a remote age\n(certainly as early as the fourth millenium B.C.) were acquainted with\nthe twelve divisions of the Zodiac, and that these divisions were\nimagined under figures closely resembling in almost every instance\nthose now depicted on our celestial globes. The calendar used by\nthe Accadians, and later by the Semitic Babylonians and Assyrians,\nwas indeed based on the observance of the Zodiacal constellations\nand of the journeyings through them of the sun and moon. The varying\npositions of the planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn\nare also noted by references to the Zodiacal asterisms: and not only\nZodiacal, but several of the extra-Zodiacal ancient constellations are\nrepresented on the monuments.\n\nAll this information gained from the cuneiform tablets concerning\nthe science of astronomy in Western Asia must undoubtedly affect the\njudgment of enquirers into the history of the same science in India.\n\nNow that it is clearly proved that 3,000 B.C. and earlier the\ntwelve-fold fanciful signs of the Solar Zodiac were known to the\ninhabitants of Babylonia, it cannot any longer be asserted dogmatically\nthat the inhabitants of India must have waited till 300 B.C. to learn\nthis twelve-fold division from Grecian astronomers after the date of\nAlexander\u2019s conquest.\n\nBut again as regards the fixation of the initial point of the\ndistinctively Indian Lunar Zodiac, or circle of the Nakshatras, at the\n\u201cend of Revat\u00ee, and the beginning of A\u00e7vin\u00ee,\u201d that is to say, at a\npoint not far from the first degree of Aries--cuneiform tablets teach\nus the important fact that long before the equinoctial point coincided\nwith any of the degrees of Aries, that constellation was the leader of\nthe Zodiacal series--inasmuch as the month Bar zig-gar (Accadian) the\n\u201cSacrifice of righteousness,\u201d that is, the month when the sun was in\nconjunction with Aries, always in the tablets appears as the 1st month\nof the year.[52]\n\n  [52] This fact is admitted (see art. \u201cZodiac,\u201d sub-heading \u201cfirst\n  sign,\u201d _Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica_). But it is a fact opposed to\n  the hitherto received opinion touching the necessary connexion of\n  the equinoctial point and of the initial point of the Zodiac. \u201cA\n  prehistoric reform\u201d of the calendar is supposed, and corrections of\n  the ancient texts to suit this reform, are suggested. Until traces\n  of such reform and corrections can be shown to exist, the evidence\n  of the tablets may still be cited as pointing to a year counted\n  from the sun\u2019s entry into Aries, in the earliest ages of Babylonian\n  civilization.\n\nThese late revelations of arch\u00e6ology seem to strike at the root of the\nmain arguments relied on by the advocates of the Grecian and modern\norigin of astronomic science in India; and this being the case, it\nis possible to turn with unbiassed minds to a consideration of the\nteachings of Sanscrit literature, and endeavour to learn from them what\nis the real truth as to the acquaintance of ancient Indian authors with\nthe figures of the Zodiac and other astronomic phenomena.\n\nThe opinion has been very generally adopted, as has been said, that\nin the Rig Veda there is no mention of any of the twelve figures of\nthe Solar Zodiac. Some few writers have contended that occasional\nreferences to these figures are to be met with, and this question\nhas been argued on etymological grounds. My entire ignorance of the\nSanscrit language prevents me from at all following the arguments\nemployed in this discussion. And here it may be said, and said with\ngood reason, that for the discussion of points connected with Vedic\nliterature, writers ignorant of the language in which the Vedas were\ncomposed are but ill equipped for the task. At every step I keenly feel\nmy own disqualifications; but many translations and commentaries on\nthe Rig Veda are in existence; and without entering into etymological\nquestions, it has seemed to me that broad astronomic explanations\nof some of the myths might be supplied, if only the possibility of\nthe Vedic Rishis having been acquainted with the strange figures of\nthe celestial sphere should be admitted. In this paper I am anxious\nto draw the attention of those who can study Vedic texts in their\noriginal language to these possible explanations. Those only who know\nSanscrit are really qualified to judge finally whether the suggestions\nhere made can be sustained on further enquiry into the Vedas. If the\ninterpretations of Vedic myths here proposed are correct--no doubt\ncorroboration will be found for them in the Sanscrit names and epithets\nof mythic personages. If no such corroborations are to be met with,\nthe probabilities in favour of the correctness of the astronomic\ninterpretations will be greatly diminished.\n\nBut to return to our subject. It is sometimes argued that the Vedic\nbards could not have been acquainted with the twelve-fold division\nof the Zodiac, as otherwise these great constellations would surely\nhave claimed at their hands clear and outspoken notice. With this\nargument I cannot fully agree. Even before pointing out the important\nplace which I believe astronomical phenomena hold in the Rig Veda,\nI would draw attention to the fact that according to the generally\nreceived and non-astronomic explanation of the myths, it is necessary\nto suppose that still more striking and important natural phenomena\nthan those connected with the constellations of the Zodiac--phenomena\nwith which the Vedic bards must certainly have been acquainted--were\nalmost entirely ignored by the authors of the Rig Veda. It is true that\nsome great scholars claim on linguistic grounds a solar origin for\nmuch Vedic imagery and nomenclature; yet when the hymns are examined\nin translations, and the notes and commentaries which accompany these\ntranslations are studied, the impression left on the mind of any reader\nunacquainted with Sanscrit must be that very little attention or honour\nis given to sun, moon, or stars, in comparison to that so freely\nlavished on the elements of fire, air and water, and on the mysterious\nproperties of the juice of the Soma plant.\n\nThe beauty of the dawn is almost the only celestial glory that appears\nto appeal with any insistence to the imaginations of the Vedic Rishis.\n\nIf out of the more than one thousand hymns of the Rig Veda, not one is\naddressed to the moon, and on the most liberal calculation considerably\nless than a hundred to the sun, under any aspect, it need not be cause\nfor wonder if the constellations of the Zodiac are not remembered.\nThe poets of the Rig Veda, however ignorant of astronomy, and at\nwhatever age they lived, must have sometimes lifted their eyes above\nthe sacrificial fire and its smoke, above the rain and storm-clouds,\nabove their altars and libations of Soma. They must have often seen\n\u201cthe sun when it shined\u201d and \u201cthe moon walking in brightness,\u201d and if\nthey so rarely hymned these great luminaries with whose appearance\nand existence they so certainly were acquainted, it would prove no\nignorance on their part of the twelve-fold division of the Zodiac and\nits quaintly imagined figures, were it indeed the case that all mention\nof these figures is absent from the Rig Veda.\n\nBut as has been stated above, my desire is to draw attention to\npossible astronomic interpretations of many of the Vedic myths,\nand the adoption of such interpretations would necessarily entail a\nreversal of the dictum that all mention of the twelve-fold Zodiac is\nabsent from the Rig Veda.\n\nThose who have studied this wonderful and mysterious collection of\nhymns most constantly and deeply are obliged to confess that it is\nstill very imperfectly understood, and though it is agreed unanimously\nthat the Gods of the Veda are personifications of the phenomena of\nnature, yet as to the exact phenomena underlying the various Vedic\nmyths there is among scholars much difference of opinion. It is\nimpossible not to feel in reading the hymns and the many speculations,\nnotes, and comments appended to them, that notwithstanding all the\nlabour and research bestowed on the work, much of this ancient Veda\nstill remains a cypher, for the right understanding of which the modern\nreader does not possess the key.\n\nGuided by the teachings of arch\u00e6ology, I now make the suggestion that\nthe key to this cypher may perhaps be found in crediting the authors\nof the Veda with a somewhat advanced knowledge of astronomy, and an\nacquaintance with the, to us, apparently fanciful constellations of the\ncelestial sphere and Zodiac; and in assuming that the figures of the\n\u201cancient constellations\u201d often supplied the basis of Vedic imagery.\n\nTo pursue this possible clue towards the understanding of the myths, it\nwere much to be desired that all students should be acquainted with the\nnames and positions in the heavens of the forty-five constellations--so\nwell distinguished by the epithet \u201cancient\u201d--and that they should\nmaster some of the more easily observed conditions of their diurnal\nand annual apparent movements, as also those of the sun and moon,\nand further that they should have learnt what changes in the scenery\nof the heavens have been brought about by the slow movement known to\nastronomers as the \u201cprecession of the equinoxes.\u201d\n\nClassical and philological scholars have however so rarely time and\nattention to spare from their own intensely interesting and important\nstudies that as a rule astronomical phenomena are not much observed or\nconsidered by them. The accompanying diagrams drawn from a celestial\nprecessional globe may, it is hoped, enable those, who have not as\nyet devoted thought to such subjects, to judge for themselves of the\nreasonableness or otherwise of the following astronomic suggestions\nconcerning the most important of the Vedic gods.\n\nAccording to A. A. Macdonell--who in his late work _Vedic Mythology_\nhas summed up clearly and compendiously the opinions of a host of\nscholars on the nature of the Vedic gods--Indra is the favourite\nnational god of the Rig Veda; he is celebrated in 250 hymns, a greater\nnumber than that \u201cdevoted to any other god, and very nearly one-fourth\nof the total number of hymns in the Rig Veda.\u201d[53]\n\n  [53] Macdonell, _Vedic Mythology_, p. 54.\n\nWhat may be called the central myths related of Indra, stripped of all\nepithet and ornament, relate that, invigorated by copious draughts of\nSoma, Indra fights with, overcomes, and drives from heaven and earth\na demon called Vritra or Ahi, who is represented under the form of a\ndragon, serpent or water snake. Indra also searches for, finds, and\nreleases cows which had been stolen from the gods (or according to\nsome commentators, from the angirasas, or priests). Indra bestows on\nhis worshippers all the blessings of plenty, especially he is the\ndispenser of rain.\n\nAccording to the usual non-astronomic explanations of these myths,\nIndra, an \u201catmospheric god,\u201d[54] is \u201cprimarily the thunder god\u201d who\nconquers \u201cthe demons of drought or darkness,\u201d or again, \u201cIndra[55] is\na personification of the phenomena of the firmament, particularly in\nthe capacity of sending down rain. This property is metaphorically\ndescribed as a conflict with the clouds which are reluctant to\npart with their watery stores until assailed and penetrated by the\nthunder-bolt of Indra; ... the cloud is personified as a demon named\nAhi or Vritra ... a popular myth represents him (Indra) also as the\ndiscoverer and rescuer of the cows, either of the priests or of the\ngods which had been stolen by an _Asura_ named Pan\u0302i or Vala.\u201d\n\n  [54] Macdonell, _Vedic Mythology_, p. 66.\n\n  [55] Wilson, _Rig Veda_, Introduction, pp. xxx.-xxxi.\n\nMacdonell, alluding to the same incident, observes:[56] These \u201ccows\nreleased by Indra may, in many cases, refer to the waters, for we\nhave seen that the latter are occasionally compared with lowing\ncows. Thus Indra is said to have found the cows for man when he slew\nthe dragon.... But the cows may also in other cases be conceived as\nconnected with Indra\u2019s winning of light, for the ruddy beams of dawn\nissuing from the blackness of night are compared with cattle coming out\nof their dark stalls. Again, though clouds play no great part in the\nRig Veda under their literal name (_abhra_, etc.), it can hardly be\ndenied that, as containing the waters, they figure mythologically to\na considerable extent under the name of cow (_go_), as well as udder\n(_\u016bdhar_) ... thus the rain-clouds are probably meant when it is said\nthat the cows roared at the birth of Indra.\u201d\n\n  [56] _Vedic Mythology_, p. 59.\n\nAt the close of the section devoted to Indra, Macdonell refers to\nthe probably pre-Vedic origin of the Indra myths. He says:[57] \u201cThe\nname of Indra occurs only twice in the Avesta. Beyond the fact of his\nbeing no god, but only a demon, his character there is uncertain.\nIndra\u2019s distinctive Vedic epithet _vrtrahan_ [Vritra-slayer] also\noccurs in the Avesta in the form of _verethraghna_, which is, however,\nunconnected with Indra or the thunderstorm myth, designating merely\nthe God of Victory. Thus it is probable that the Indo-Iranian period\npossessed a god approaching to the Vedic form of the Vrtra-slaying\nIndra. It is even possible that beside the thundering god of heaven,\nthe Indo-European period may have known as a distinct conception a\nthunder-god, gigantic in size, a mighty eater and drinker, who slays\nthe dragon with his lightning bolt.\u201d\n\n  [57] _Vedic Mythology_, p. 66.\n\nIn reading the Indra hymns in the Veda, and in trying to fit them to\nthe explanation given in the passages quoted, a constant and very\ndisagreeable strain is put on the imagination; it must, for instance,\nattempt to grasp and hold, at the same time, two very far apart\nopinions as to the nature of the demon Vritra. Vritra is to be thought\nof as a demon of darkness, and as a demon of drought; the cows are\nclouds, they are also ruddy beams of light!\n\nDarkness and drought are not to be easily bracketed together. Drought\nis in all lands, India not excepted, connected with a long continuance\nof bright and stainless skies. The appearance then of a little cloud\n\u201clike a man\u2019s hand\u201d is the joyously hailed precursor of \u201cthe sound of\nabundance of rain.\u201d\n\nAgain, the driving away of a snake-like cloud is no forcible simile by\nwhich to describe in myth the advent of rain in India--rain which to be\nof any use is no mere refreshing shower, but a long-continued downpour\nfrom clouds not hastily dispersed.\n\nIndra\u2019s action first in driving away the cloud-demon Vritra, and then\nin seeking for the beneficial cloud cows, is also contradictory.\n\nFor the reconciling of many of these contradictions the astronomic\ninterpretation of the Indra-Vritra myths is as follows:--Indra may\nstill retain all his atmospheric attributes of sending down rain\nbut--_Indra is primarily and essentially a personification of the\nsummer solstice_.\n\nThe summer solstice in India is an all-important agricultural epoch; it\nbrings with it \u201cthe rainy season,\u201d the real spring of the Indian year.\nBefore this season all the land is parched and arid, and vegetation is\nat a standstill.\n\nThe punctuality of the rains in many parts of India is so exact that\nthe farmer foretells their arrival not only to the day, but to the\nhour. In good years heavy and almost incessant rain lasts for two or\neven three months. Indra, as a personification of the season which\nso punctually brings the rain, is an atmospheric god, the enemy of\nthe demon of drought. But Indra is more than this: many praises are\nbestowed on Indra in the Rig Veda for deeds which cannot easily be\nexplained on the simple atmospheric theory. \u201cIndra is the highest\nof all\u201d is the refrain of many Vedic verses; \u201cIndra placed the sun\nhigh in the sky,\u201d \u201cIndra tore off one wheel of the sun\u2019s chariot,\u201d\n\u201cIndra stopped the tawny coursers of the sun.\u201d Now all these phrases\nare at once and clearly to be interpreted if we think of Indra as\nthe personification of the summer solstice, and especially of the\nsolstice in India, where at that season of the year the sun attains to\nthe very zenith, and thus Indra associated with the _sun_ under one\nfigure of speech is spoken of as \u201chighest of all,\u201d and in a slightly\nvaried figure associated with the _season_, is said to have \u201c_placed_\nthe sun high in the sky.\u201d Or again translating into myth the very\nmeaning of the word solstice or \u201c_the sun being made to stand_,\u201d we\nread that Indra \u201ctore off the wheel of the chariot of the sun,\u201d and\n\u201cstopped his tawny coursers.\u201d Indra is, I cannot but believe, not\nmerely an atmospheric god; he is the god of the summer solstice. And\nif this should be the case, what then may Vritra be? Is the demon of\nthe solstitial Indra personified as only a snake-like cloud? It is\nimpossible to think so. The astronomic interpretation of the myth I\nwould propose is that--_a snake-like constellation_, not a snake-like\ncloud, is the representation of the demon Vritra.\n\nOn the celestial sphere many serpents and dragons are represented, but\nthe far-reaching constellation Hydra exceeds all the others in its\nenormous length from head to tail. No very brilliant stars mark the\nasterism, nor in the grouping of its stars is there anything especially\nsnake-like. For some reason other than its appeal to the eye did\nastronomers of old invest with all the horrors of the Hydra-form the\nmonotonous length of this space on the vault of the skies.\n\nThis reason may be arrived at, with almost certainty, in studying, with\nthe help of a precessional globe, the position in the heavens of this\nconstellation in different ages of the world\u2019s history. So studying, we\nshall find that 4,000 B.C.--or to be more precise, one or two hundred\nyears earlier--Hydra extended its enormous length for more than 90\u00b0\nsymmetrically along one astronomically important (though invisible)\nmathematical line--the line of the heavenly equator--and was at the\nsame date accurately bisected by another equally important mathematical\nline, namely the colure of the summer solstice (see Plate IX.).\n\nAlmost irresistibly, as it appears to me, the conviction forces itself\non the mind, in considering the position held by the constellation\nHydra 4,000 B.C., that it was at that date that this baleful figure was\nfirst traced in imagination on the sky, there fitly to represent the\npower of physical (and may we not suppose also, of moral?) darkness--a\ngreat and terrible power--but a power ever and ever again to be\nconquered by the victorious power of light. In astronomic myth this\npower was represented as that of the sun at the season of its highest\nculmination, the season of the summer solstice. For an observer in the\ntemperate northern zone all through the long nights of mid-winter, the\nwhole length of the dreadful Hydra was at the date named visible above\nthe horizon. The dark midwinter season was therefore the time of the\nHydra\u2019s greatest glory. At every season of the year, except at that\nof midsummer, some portion of the monster\u2019s form was visible during\nsome part of the night. But at the summer solstice no star in the\nconstellation might show itself for ever so short a time.[58]\n\n  [58] Plate IX. represents the constellations above the horizon, _but\n  invisible at noon at the midsummer solstice_. It therefore represents\n  those above the horizon, _and visible at midwinter midnight_.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE IX.\n\nPosition of the Sun amongst the Constellations at Summer Solstice,\n4,000 B.C. Observer in Lat. 40\u00b0 N. Constellations between the lines H Z\nand Z H invisible all through the night of Summer Solstice.\n\n[_To face p. 118._]\n\nThe supposed latitude of the observer in Plate IX. is 40\u00b0 N., a\nlatitude considerably to the north of any part of India; but it is to\nbe remembered that the Indra-Vritra myth cannot be claimed with any\ncertainty as a purely and originally Indian myth, for, as Macdonell\npoints out (as quoted above), there is a probability that \u201cthe\nIndo-Iranian period possessed a god approaching to the Vedic form of\nthe Vrtra-slaying Indra,\u201d and that \u201cit is even possible that beside the\nthundering god of heaven, the Indo-European period may have known as a\ndistinct conception a thunder-god, gigantic in size, a mighty eater and\ndrinker, who slays the dragon with his lightning bolt.\u201d[59]\n\n  [59] V. p. 114.\n\nFor the _origin_ of this world-wide myth, therefore, we should not\nlook to the tropical Indian Zone; but it is in Indian latitudes that\nwe should look for an explanation of the physical phenomena _hymned by\nVedic bards in the distinctly Indian development of the Indra-Vritra\nmyth_. I believe that in thus tracing the course of the Indra story\nfrom temperate to tropical latitudes, we shall find a reason for the\ncontradictory attributes assigned to the demon Vritra, namely those of\ndarkness and drought.\n\nIn northern latitudes winter is distinctly the _dark_ season; in\ntropical India there is little or no perceptible difference between\nthe darkness of winter and summer. But in India winter is distinctly\nthe dry season. Midsummer is the all-important season of the rains.\nIndra\u2019s conquest over Vritra, or the arrival of solstitial rains,\nmarked by the disappearance of the constellation Hydra from the sky,\nwas mythologically in the Vedas described as Indra\u2019s conquest over the\ndemon of _drought_, but still traditionally--for the power of tradition\nis great--even in India Indra retained the attributes of the conqueror\nover the demon of _darkness_.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE X.\n\nPortion of Sun at Summer Solstice, 3,000 B.C. Observer in Lat. 23\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations between the lines H H Z and Z H H invisible all through\nthe night of Summer Solstice.\n\n[_To face p. 121._]\n\nAt Plate X. a drawing is given of the southern heavens and of the\nconstellations--invisible at midsummer and visible at midwinter, above\nthe horizon of an observer in latitude 23\u00b0 N. at the date 3000 B.C.,\na thousand years later than the date referred to in Plate IX. For\nreasons which will appear more clearly when we come to the discussion\nof the Soma myth, it is to about this date that I would attribute the\ncomposition of many of the Vedic hymns.\n\nBut if Indra is to be considered as representing the summer solstice,\nand Vritra as representing the constellation Hydra, we must surely\nexpect some astronomic interpretation for Soma--Soma by which the\nmighty Indra is invigorated and enabled to triumph gloriously over\nthe demon. According to non-astronomic explanations, \u201cthe concrete\nterrestrial plant and the intoxicating juice extracted therefrom\u201d are\nconsidered to be the basis of the mythology of Soma. It is admitted\nthat in post-Vedic literature Soma is a regular name of the moon, which\nis regarded as being drunk up by the gods, and so waning. Some writers\npoint to the possibility that even in the Rig Veda, \u201cin the Soma hymns\nthere may occasionally lurk a veiled identification of ambrosia and the\nmoon, ... but on the whole, with the few exceptions generally admitted,\nit appears to be certain that to the seers of the Rig Veda the god Soma\nis a personification of the terrestrial plant and juice.\u201d[60]\n\n  [60] Macdonell, _Vedic Mythology_, p. 113.\n\nOne German writer, Hillebrandt, very strongly upholds the view that\nSoma in the Rig Veda \u201coften personifies the moon,\u201d[61] and especially\naccording to him is this the case in the 114 hymns of Ma\u1e47\u1e0dala IX.,\nall addressed to Soma pavam\u0101na, or \u201cpurified Soma,\u201d prepared for and\nquaffed by Indra to invigorate him for the Vritra combat.\n\n  [61] _Vedic Mythology_\n\nThat Soma in the Rig Veda is primarily the moon, and that the moon is\nsymbolized and always more or less directly referred to in the Vedic\nhymns to Soma, fits in, as must be evident to the readers of this\npaper, with the astronomic theories advocated in it. If we consider\nthat Indra\u2019s conquest over Vritra represents the god of the summer\nsolstice, with his bright weapons, conquering, and driving from heaven\nand earth the constellation Hydra, we can easily understand how in this\ncontest Indra might be strengthened by copious draughts of Soma, _i.e._\nby the bright light of the full moon flooding the heavens with radiance\nand enfeebling all but the brightest stars.\n\nBut a further confirmation of the lunar character of Soma, and an\nelucidation of the imagery of the Soma pavam\u0101na hymns of Ma\u1e47\u1e0dala\nIX., are to be found if--still crediting the Vedic Rishis with a\nknowledge of the ancient constellations--we study the position of these\nconstellations at the date 3,000 B.C. (see Plate XI.)[62] At that\ndate the full moon of the midsummer or solstitial season was always to\nbe observed in the constellation Aquarius. With this thought in our\nmind as we read the mystical hymns of Ma\u1e47\u1e0dala IX., in which Soma is\nso often described as rushing impetuously to the vase or pitcher, and\nas surrounded by celestial waters, with many other such expressions,\nwe easily recognise an allusion to the _midsummer full moon in the\nconstellation Aquarius_; and when further we read the legend so\noften repeated, that the eagle brought the Soma to Indra, or to the\nsacrifice, we have only to look at the celestial globe to see the eagle\n(Aquila) directing its flight towards the pitcher of Aquarius--and to\nremember that the very night before the moon attained the celestial\nvase, it would have been on the same meridian as the constellation\nAquila; and the imaginative Vedic bard might then describe it as borne\nalong by the eagle,--one of the most glorious constellations in that\npart of the sky.\n\n  [62] Lunar dates are variable. The full moon _nearest_ to the summer\n  solstice might have been observed somewhat to the east or the west of\n  its position in the diagram, but always in the constellation Aquarius.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XI.\n\nPosition of Moon amongst the Constellations at Summer Solstice, and of\nthe Sun at Winter Solstice, 3,000 B.C. Observer in Lat. 23\u00b0 N.\n\n[_To face p. 124._]\n\nIn one hymn especially devoted to the legend of the Soma-bearing eagle\n(or hawk), allusion to the small but well-marked-out constellation\nSagitta (the arrow) may be detected. In Wilson\u2019s translation of Ma\u1e47\u1e0dala\nIV. 27 (vol. iii. p. 174), we read: \u201cWhen the hawk screamed (with\nexultation) on his descent from heaven, and (the guardians of the\n_Soma_) perceived that the _Soma_ was (carried away) by it, then, the\narcher Kri\u1e63\u00e1nu, pursuing with the speed of thought, and stringing his\nbow, let fly an arrow against it.\u201d\n\nNow to turn to another important Vedic deity, Agni.\n\nAgni is classed, according to Macdonell, amongst terrestrial gods,\nbut he points out that in some passages he is to be identified with\nthe sun. Wilson describes Agni as comprising[63] \u201cthe element of\n_Fire_ under three aspects: 1^{st}, as it exists on earth, not only as\nculinary or religious fire, but as the heat of digestion and of life,\nand the vivifying principle of vegetation; 2^{nd}, as it exists in\nthe atmosphere, or mid-heaven, in the form of lightning; and 3^{rd},\nas it is manifested in the heavens, as light, the sun, the dawn, and\nplanetary bodies.\u201d And--having enumerated various deities who in the\nhymns appear as manifestations of the sun--he adds, \u201cstill, however,\nthe sun does not hold that prominent place in the _Vaidik_ liturgy\nwhich he seems to have done in that of the ancient Persians, and he is\nchiefly venerated as the celestial representative of Fire.\u201d\n\n  [63] Wilson, _Rig Veda_, Introduction, vol. i. pp. xxvii.-xxviii.\n\nThe classification of Agni as a terrestrial god, given by Macdonell,\nand the order of his \u201caspects,\u201d as given by Wilson, are not in\naccordance with the theory here advocated, nor, according to Macdonell,\nis it the classification or order always adhered to by Vedic\nauthorities.\n\nFor some very puzzling myths concerning Agni, I believe an astronomic\ninterpretation may be given, and thereby the position of Agni in the\n_first_ place, rather than in the _last_, as a celestial god, may be\nestablished.\n\n  The Vedic deity Ap\u0101m Nap\u0101t--the son of Waters, is classed by\n  Macdonell as an atmospheric god, and he says,[64] \u201cIn the last\n  stanza of the Ap\u0101m nap\u0101t hymn, the deity is invoked as Agni, and\n  must be identified with him,\u201d and again,[65] \u201cAgni\u2019s origin in the\n  aerial waters is often referred to. The \u2018son of waters\u2019 has, as has\n  been shown, become a distinct deity.\u201d Then turning to other legends\n  regarding Agni he says, \u201cIn such passages the lightning form of\n  Agni must be meant. Some of the later hymns of the Rig Veda tell a\n  legend of Agni hiding in the waters and plants, and being found by\n  the gods.... In one passage of the Rig Veda also it is stated that\n  Agni rests in all streams; and in the later ritual texts, Agni in the\n  waters is invoked in connexion with ponds and water-vessels. Thus,\n  even in the oldest Vedic period, the waters in which Agni is latent,\n  though not those from which he is produced, may in various passages\n  have been regarded as terrestrial.... In any case the notion of Agni\n  in the waters is prominent throughout the Vedas.\u201d\n\n  [64] _Vedic Mythology_, p. 70.\n\n  [65] _Ibid._, p. 92.\n\nTo explain this legend, Wilson makes other suggestions. He writes:[66]\n\u201cThe legend of his (Agni\u2019s) hiding in the waters, through fear of the\nenemies of the gods, although alluded to in more than one place, is\nnot very explicitly related ... the allusions of the _S\u00faktas_ (hymns)\nmay be a figurative intimation of the latent heat existing in water,\nor a misapprehension of a natural phenomenon which seems to have made\na great impression in later times--the emission of flame from the\nsurface of water either in the shape of inflammable air, or as the\nresult of submarine volcanic action.\u201d\n\n  [66] Wilson, _Rig Veda_, Introduction, vol. i. p. xxx.\n\nIt cannot but be admitted that these myths are puzzling, and that to\naccount for the notion so prominent throughout the Vedas of \u201cAgni\nin the waters,\u201d the various suggestions of \u201clightning,\u201d \u201clatent\nheat existing in water,\u201d \u201cthe emission of flame from the surface of\nthe waters, either in the shape of inflammable air or as the result\nof submarine volcanic action,\u201d are inadequate to explain the fact\nthat Agni, whose very name \u201cis the regular designation of fire\u201d[67]\nshould in the hymns be so closely associated with water. Nor are the\ndifficulties concerning \u201cAgni in the waters\u201d to be overcome by the\ntempting and poetic suggestion, put forward by some writers, that in\nthese passages reference is made to the sun rising in the morning out\nof the ocean, and again hiding itself beneath the waves at sunset. The\ncomposition of the Rig Veda is attributed to Aryan settlers \u201cscattered\nover the Punjaub and regions lying to the west of the Indus\u201d: by such\nsettlers the sun could never have been seen _rising_ out of the ocean,\nfor no ocean bounded their horizon on the east. Even the phenomenon of\nthe sun hiding itself at evening in the water, could only have been\nobserved by those who lived on the western _coast_, and it is therefore\nnot easy to imagine why sunrise and sunset should in India have been so\nclosely and constantly associated with a sea horizon.\n\n  [67] Macdonell, _Vedic Mythology_, p. 88.\n\nBut if once the acquaintance of the originators of the Agni myths with\nthe Zodiacal figures is admitted, the astronomic interpretation of\nthose relating to Agni in the waters is not difficult; it is as follows:\n\nAgni is the personification of fire, but his chief personification is\nas the fire of the sun. _\u201cAgni in the waters\u201d is especially the fire of\nthe sun in the celestial waters of Aquarius._ 3,000 B.C. the sun was\nin conjunction with Aquarius at the time of the _winter solstice_.[68]\nThose hymns therefore which dwell upon the myths of Agni hiding himself\nin, being born in, and rising out of the waters, may be considered as\nhymns referring to _the sun at the winter solstice in conjunction with\nthe constellation Aquarius_, and therefore as hymns especially suitable\nfor use on the occasion of a great yearly festival held at that season\nof the year.\n\n  [68] The position of the sun at the _winter solstice_ 3,000 B.C. was\n  identical with that represented at Plate XI. as the position of the\n  full moon at the _summer solstice_.\n\nEuropean writers often describe the mid-winter sun as _hiding_ itself,\nor as every day withdrawing itself more and more from view. In poetic\nsimiles, the snows of winter often crown the head of the aged out-going\nyear, while the in-coming year is represented as a _babe_ or _infant_.\nThe appropriateness of such similes is due to the fact, that our\ncalendrical new year is fixed within a few days of the winter solstice.\nAgain, in sober prose, the sun at the time of the winter solstice is\nsaid, having attained its lowest point, _to rise_ or _begin its upward\ncourse_ on the ecliptic. It is therefore not difficult to understand\nhow the Vedic Rishis, who appear to have combined the characteristics\nof poets and of scientific observers of the heavens, should have 3,000\nB.C. described _the fire of the solstitial sun, as hiding in, being\nborn in, and rising out of the celestial waters of the constellation\nAquarius_.\n\nIn this Agni myth, as in that of Indra, we may perceive traces of a\npre-Vedic origin. The latitudes in which the Rig Veda was composed are\nnot those in which attention is forcibly drawn to the diminution of the\nstrength and visibility of the sun at the winter season. In the Rig\nVeda, however, Indra\u2019s conquest over darkness as well as over drought\nis celebrated, and the same _traditional_ cause may be assigned for the\ndescription of Agni hiding himself at the time of the winter solstice\nin the waters of Aquarius.\n\nIndra, Soma, and Agni no longer hold the important place in the Hindu\nPantheon which they appear to have held in Vedic times, and on the\nastronomic theory, this fact may partly be accounted for by noticing\nhow slow but inevitable changes in the scenery of the heavens, produced\nby the precession of the equinoxes, gradually obscured more and more\ncompletely the meaning of the _imagery_ employed in the hymns to these\ndeities. Indra, if he represents the summer solstice, is indeed still\nas powerful as ever, and still triumphs over the demon of drought,\nbut no longer is that demon well represented by the snake-like\nconstellation Hydra; for on the night of the summer solstice, after the\nsun has set, the whole of Hydra is still above the horizon. No longer\ndoes the mid-summer full moon bathe its brightness in the celestial\nwaters of Aquarius, nor does the mid-winter sun hide itself in them.\nThe hymns remain, the phenomena they referred to, exist no longer.\n\nBut leaving now the subject of the \u201cancient constellations\u201d and of\nreference to them in the Rig Veda, let us turn to the second section\nof the argument in favour of the modern origin of Hindu astronomy as\nstated above.[69] It is a claim made for the very modern date of 570\nA.D. as that for the fixation of the initial point of the Indian Zodiac\nat the \u201cend of Revat\u00ee and the beginning of A\u00e7vin\u00ee.\u201d--This claim I\ndesire to oppose.\n\n  [69] V. p. 92.\n\nIt has been admitted by scholars, but almost with a sort of reluctance,\nthat mention is made of some of the Nakshatras in a few of the Rig Veda\nhymns. The matter is rather avoided than cordially enquired into. It\nis, however, a question of great and important interest to ascertain,\nif possible, whether the circle of the Nakshatras was known to the\nVedic Rishis, and if it were known, whether the initial point was fixed\nthere, where as we have read, _all schools of Hindu astronomy agree in\ndeclaring that the planetary motions commenced at the creation_.[70]\n\n  [70] V. p. 93.\n\nWe have learnt from Babylonian arch\u00e6ology that we are no longer forced\nto assume that only at the date of about 570 A.D. could this initial\npoint have been fixed by Indian astronomers. It therefore need no\nlonger be looked upon as an unreasonable quest to search in the ancient\npages of the Rig Veda for indications that this important astronomical\npoint had been fixed, even before Vedic times, as the starting-point of\na calendrical and sidereal year--and if we should find such indications\nin the Rig Veda, they may well out-weigh arguments against the\nantiquity of this fixation, based upon passages in later works, such as\nthe Yajur and Atharva Vedas.\n\nFrom the Yajur Veda itself, arguments may be drawn in favour of a year\nbeginning in the month Chaitra,[71] at or before the date of the\ncomposition or compilation of that Veda.\n\n  [71] Chaitra is the month which begins, as closely as a luni-solar\n  month may, at the sun\u2019s arrival at the initial point of the Hindu\n  Zodiac--the beginning of Aswin\u012b.\n\nIn the Taittir\u00eeya Sanhit\u00e2 (contained in the Yajur Veda) a passage\noccurs[72] which is translated and commented upon by B. G. Tilak (_The\nOrion, or Antiquity of the Vedas_, p. 46 _et seq._). In this passage\nis discussed the superior suitability of three different days on which\nworshippers might consecrate themselves for the yearly sacrifice. Not\nany one of these three days has any connexion with the _spring equinox_\nor the sun\u2019s conjunction with Krittik\u0101. The choice of date for the\nyearly sacrifice appears to lie between, first, the \u201cEk\u00e2\u1e63h\u1e6dak\u0101 (day)\u201d\nof some month not named,[73] but one in the \u201cdistressed,\u201d or \u201creversed\u201d\nperiod of the year, _i.e._ the mid-winter season; second, the full moon\nof Phalgun\u012b; and third, the Chaitra full moon. B. G. Tilak, after some\npages of comment on the passage referred to, states in his summing up,\namongst others, the following conclusions which he has arrived at.\n\n  [72] Taittir\u00eeya Sanhit\u00e2, vii. 4. 8.\n\n  [73] At p. 48 he quotes authorities in favour of the Ek\u00e2\u1e63h\u1e6dak\u0101 (day)\n  in this passage meaning the 8th day of the dark half of M\u00e2gha.\n\n\u201c1^{st}, that in the days of the Taittir\u00eeya Sanhit\u00e2 the winter\nsolstice occurred before the eighth day of the dark half of M\u00e2gha ...\nand that throughout the whole passage the intention of sacrificing\nat the beginning (real, constructive, or traditional) of the year is\nquite clear: ... 2^{nd}, that the year then commenced with the winter\nsolstice\u201d: \u201c3^{rd}, that as there can not be three real beginnings\nof the year, at an interval of one month each, the passage must be\nunderstood as recording a tradition about the Chitr\u00e2 full moon and the\nPhalgun\u012b full moon being once considered as the first days of the year.\u201d\n\nThis is B. G. Tilak\u2019s conclusion; merely judging from the\n_translation_, the passage might, as it seems to me, be understood as\nunreservedly recommending the full-moon of Chaitra as the most suitable\nfor the beginning of the sacrifice, for in the text of the Taittir\u00eeya\nSanhit\u00e2 it is said of it, \u201cIt has no fault whatsoever.\u201d\n\nBut in whichever sense the words are understood, this passage from the\nYajur Veda may be set against the hymns and lists in the Yajur and\nAtharva Vedas, above alluded to,[74] in which Krittik\u0101 is celebrated in\nthe first, and Aswin\u012b in the twenty-seventh place.\n\n  [74] V. p. 94.\n\nThe fact that the evidence as to the beginning of the year \u201cin the\ndays of the Taittir\u00eeya Sanhit\u00e2,\u201d is, as it seems, so uncertain, and\nso contradictory to the opinion based on the hymn in the Taittir\u00eeya\nBr\u0101hmana concerning Krittik\u0101 being the leader of the Nakshatras,\nseems to add interest to the question whether there are, or are not,\nindications in the Rig Veda that the Indian year was counted from the\nsame point on the ecliptic as at present?[75]\n\n  [75] At present the month Chaitra in most parts of India is the first\n  month of the Hindu year. The beginning of the year is measured by the\n  return of the sun to the same point in the Zodiac: at present the\n  beginning of the Lunar Mansion Aswin\u012b. (See _Indian Calendar_, p. 45.)\n\nAnd at once, as it seems to me, on turning to the Rig Veda, on page\nafter page, such indications are to be met with.\n\nThe first Nakshatra in the Indian series is named Aswin\u012b (Aswins).\nThe two chief stars in that Nakshatra are the twin stars, as they may\nfairly be called, \u03b1 and \u03b2 Arietis--stars of almost equal radiance. The\njoyous hymns addressed to the twin heroes, the Aswins, I would claim as\nnew-year hymns composed in honour of these _stars_, whose appearance\nbefore sunrise heralded the approach of the great festival-day of the\nHindu new year.\n\nThe Hindu year is a sidereal year. It is counted at present in most\nparts of India from a fixed point on the ecliptic, not from a season.\nIt is a calendrical not a cosmic year. Only one apparently small change\nin the method of counting the years would now require to be made, and\nagain the Aswins might be hymned by the Hindus as the \u201cwondrous,\u201d and\n\u201cnot untruthful,\u201d _stars_, marking by their heliacal rising a new\nyear\u2019s festival--a festival to be held on the 15th, or full moon\u2019s day.\n\nThe Hindu year is now counted from the new moon immediately _preceding_\nthe sun\u2019s arrival at the initial point of the lunar Zodiac. The first\nof Chaitra (the first of the light half of Chaitra) never falls later\nthan the 12th of April, and may arrive a month earlier. If the year\nwere to be counted from the same initial point, but from the first new\nmoon _following_ instead of that _preceding_ the sun\u2019s arrival at that\npoint, there would be the difference of a whole month in the range of\nthe month Chaitra. The first day of its bright half would then never\narrive before the 12th of April, and might fall a month later.\n\nFor the interpretation of the Vedic hymns to the Aswins I would make\nthe provisional suggestion, that when these hymns were composed, the\nyear was so counted from the new moon _following_ and not from that\n_preceding_ the arrival of the sun at \u201cthe end of Revat\u00ee and the\nbeginning of A\u00e7vin\u00ee.\u201d In support of this provisional theory, let us\nfirst read the summing up of the Aswin\u012b myths, and of the difficulties\nand uncertainties surrounding them, according to the present modes\nof explanation; and then let us consider the astronomic method of\ninterpretation above proposed.\n\nWe read that[76] \u201cNext to Indra, Agni, and Soma, the twin deities\nnamed the A\u015bvins are the most prominent in the Rig Veda, judged by\nthe frequency with which they are invoked. They are celebrated in\nmore than fifty entire hymns and in parts of several others, while\ntheir name occurs more than 400 times. Though they hold a distinct\nposition among the deities of light and their appellation is Indian,\ntheir connexion with any definite phenomenon of light is so obscure,\nthat their original nature has been a puzzle to Vedic interpreters\nfrom the earliest times. This obscurity makes it probable that the\norigin of these gods is to be sought in a pre-Vedic period.... The\nA\u015bvins are young, the T. S. (Taittir\u012bya Sanhit\u00e2) even describing them\nas the youngest of the gods. They are at the same time ancient. They\nare bright, lords of lustre, of golden brilliancy, and honey-hued....\nThey possess profound wisdom and occult power. The two most distinctive\nand frequent epithets of the A\u015bvins are _dasra_, \u2018wondrous,\u2019 which is\nalmost entirely limited to them, and _n\u0101satya_, which is generally\nexplained to mean \u2018not untrue....\u2019 Their car ... moves round heaven.\nIt traverses heaven and earth in a single day as the car of the sun\nand that of U\u1e63as (the Dawn) are also said to do.... The time of their\nappearance is often said to be the early dawn, when \u2018darkness still\nstands among the ruddy cows\u2019 and they yoke their car to descend to\nearth and receive the offerings of worshippers. U\u1e63as (the Dawn) awakes\nthem. They follow after U\u1e63as in their car. At the yoking of their car\nU\u1e63as is born. Thus their relative time seems to have been between dawn\nand sunrise. But Savit\u1e5b (the sun) is once said to set their car in\nmotion before the dawn. Occasionally the appearance of the A\u015bvins, the\nkindling of the sacrificial fire, the break of dawn, and sunrise seem\nto be spoken of as simultaneous. The A\u015bvins are invoked to come to the\noffering not only at their natural time, but also in the evening or\nat morning, noon, and sunset.... In the A. B. (Aitareya Brahmana) the\nA\u015bvins as well as U\u1e63as and Agni are stated to be gods of dawn; and in\nthe Vedic ritual they are connected with sunrise.... The A\u015bvins may\noriginally have been conceived as finding and restoring or rescuing\nthe vanished light of the sun. In the Rig Veda they have come to be\ntypically succouring divinities.\u201d ... Again, at p. 51, the writer adds,\n\u201cQuite a number of legends illustrating the succouring power of the\nA\u015bvins are referred to in the Rig Veda.\u201d Here follows an enumeration of\nmany miraculous \u201cprotections,\u201d and cures,--and then[77] \u201cThe opinion\nof Bergaigne and others that the various miracles attributed to the\nA\u015bvins are anthropomorphized forms of solar phenomena (the healing\nof the blind man thus meaning the release of the sun from darkness),\nseems to lack probability. At the same time the legend of Atri may be\na reminiscence of a myth explaining the restoration of the vanished\nsun. As to the physical basis of the A\u015bvins, the language of the \u1e5a\u1e63is\nis so vague that they themselves do not seem to have understood what\nphenomenon these deities represented ... what they actually represented\npuzzled even the oldest commentators mentioned by Y\u0101ska. That scholar\nremarks that some regarded them (the A\u015bvins) as Heaven and Earth (as\ndoes the S. B.--Satapatha Brahmana), others as Day and Night, others as\nsun and moon, while the \u2018legendary writers\u2019 took them to be \u2018two kings,\nperformers of holy acts.\u2019 Y\u0101ska\u2019s own opinion is obscure.\u201d\n\n  [76] Macdonell, _Vedic Mythology_, p. 49.\n\n  [77] Macdonell, _Vedic Mythology_, p. 53.\n\nIn contrast to all these vague and often contradictory explanations,\nthe astronomical suggestion made at page 137 may to some appear too\nmatter-of-fact and prosaic. But that a firm and scientific base should\nunderlie mythical and imaginative similes does not in reality detract\nfrom their poetic excellence. Indeed, an added fitness, and therefore\nan added beauty, is to be recognized in the Aswin hymns, when we can\nthink of them as addressed to well-known and beneficent deities\npresiding over the new year--deities who manifested themselves in the\nearliest dawn of the new year\u2019s morning under the form of two beautiful\nand easily to be recognised _stars_, and to whom their worshippers\nappealed for \u201cprotection,\u201d through the unknown dangers of the future\nyear.\n\nI give two diagrams to illustrate the fact that the time of the rising\nof the stars \u03b1 and \u03b2 Arietis must necessarily, on such a new year\u2019s\nfestival as above proposed, have taken place in some years before the\nfirst intimation of dawn, in others a few minutes before the time of\nsunrise.\n\nIt is of course to be borne in mind that the Vedic years were\nluni-solar. The actual point therefore on the ecliptic at which the\nconjunction of sun and moon-or new moon-took place, and from which each\nyear was counted, varied in different years to the extent of nearly 30\ndegrees. The diagram, Plate XII. Figs. 1 and 2, represents the maximum\nand minimum distance between the rising of the Yoga stars of the\nNakshatra Aswin\u012b, and of the sun on the 15th or full-moon\u2019s day of the\nfirst month of a luni-solar year; counted from the first conjunction of\nsun and moon _following_ the sun\u2019s arrival at the \u201cend of Revat\u00ee and\nthe beginning of A\u00e7vin\u00ee.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XII.\n\nThe Vedic Aswins and the Indian Calendar.\n\n[_To face p. 142._]\n\nIt will be seen from the diagram that something more than two hours was\nthe longest interval that, according to the presumed method of counting\nthe Vedic year, elapsed between the appearance of \u03b1 and \u03b2 Arietis and\nof the sun above the horizon.\n\nThis astronomic interpretation accounts for the varying times noted in\nthe hymns for the appearance of the Aswins. It also accounts, as it\nseems to me, for the general tone of the hymns, but as regards the long\nseries of miraculous \u201cprotections\u201d of the Aswins, accorded by them to\nmany sick, aged, and decrepit personages, it does not at first sight\naccount.\n\nWe have seen that Bergaigne and others have opined that the various\nmiracles attributed to the Aswins are \u201canthropomorphized forms of solar\nphenomena,\u201d and with this view the astronomic interpretation, when\nfully followed out to its logical end, agrees.\n\nBut at first sight we wonder how the sun at the beginning of the\ncalendrical year could, _in Vedic times_, be described as in any way\nespecially sick, aged, or decrepit.\n\n3,000 B.C., when, as we have seen, the winter solstice was in Aquarius,\nthe Indian calendrical and sidereal year, such as has been supposed,\nwould have begun at its earliest a month and a half _after_ the\nsolstice.[78] The sun _at_ the winter solstice, may be, and often\nis, described as pale, weak, sick and old; but at the beginning of a\ncalendrical year, a month and a half _after_ the solstice, the sun\nno longer could have been thought of as requiring the miraculous\nprotection of the heralding Aswins.\n\n  [78] If the Hindu year were _now_ counted from the new moon\n  _following_ instead of that _preceding_ the sun\u2019s arrival at\n  the initial point of the Zodiac, owing to the precession of the\n  equinoxes, the year would begin at earliest twenty-one days after the\n  _spring equinox_. Since 3,000 B.C. the seasons have advanced by more\n  than two months, as regards their position amongst the stars.\n\nTo help in solving this difficulty, recourse may again wisely be had to\nBabylonian astronomic lore. The fanciful legends regarding the Aswins,\nconsidered only by themselves, can scarcely yield a sufficiently firm\nfoundation on which to build the far-reaching theory I now desire\nto bring forward concerning them; a theory on all fours with one\nI ventured some years ago to propound in reference to Babylonian\nastronomy, in a Paper entitled the \u201cAccadian Calendar.\u201d[79] It was\nthere suggested that the probable date for the origin of that Calendar\nwas about 6,000 B.C. The fact was pointed out that Aries, in the most\nancient Accadian and Babylonian astronomical works, always appears\nas leader of the signs and of the year, and stress was laid on the\nunlikelihood that this constellation should have been chosen for this\nleading post at a date when the sun\u2019s entry into it did not correspond\nwith any one of the four well-marked natural divisions of the year,\n_i.e._ the solstices or equinoxes. But as on the cuneiform tablets\nAries appears as _leader_ long before the time when the sun sojourned\nin that constellation during the first month following _the equinox_,\nit was suggested that it was when the _solstitial not the equinoctial_\npoint coincided with the first degree of Aries, that the Accadian\ncalendrical scheme had first been drawn up; namely about 6,000 B.C.\n\n  [79] _Proceedings of Society of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology_, January 1892.\n\nA corroboration of the view then put forward is to be drawn from a\nfurther study of the Accadian month names. The first three month names,\nin Accadian, referred, as scholars have pointed out, to the first three\nconstellations of the Zodiac.\n\n(1.) The month of the \u201csacrifice of righteousness\u201d to Aries.\n\n(2.) The month of the \u201cpropitious Bull\u201d to Taurus.\n\n(3.) The month of \u201cthe Twins\u201d to Gemini.\n\nThe twelfth and thirteenth names in the same series seem to refer\nequally clearly to a year originally counted as beginning at the\n_winter solstice_. They are called respectively:\n\n\u201c12th. The month of sowing of seed.\u201d--\u201c13th. The dark month of sowing.\u201d\n\nFor the sowing of most cereals, late autumn and early winter are the\nfavoured seasons. Many crops however are sown in early spring. There\nmight then be a doubt whether \u201cthe month of sowing of seed\u201d more\nfitly described the spring sowing of seed in the twelfth month of a\nluni-solar year, counted from the _equinox_,--or the winter sowing\nof seed in the twelfth month of a luni-solar year, counted from\nthe _solstice_. But when we find this twelfth month followed by a\nthirteenth, of which the especial and added epithet is _dark_, there\ncan, as it seems to me, be little if any doubt that the winter month\nwhose range in different years extended from 12th of December to 22nd\nJanuary is better described by the epithet dark, than the rapidly\nbrightening month whose range extended from 12th March to 22nd April.\n\nVery curiously, then, and accurately does the Accadian calendar give us\nthe date of its origin, and of the first naming of its months, as that\nwhen the _winter solstice coincided with the sun\u2019s entry into the first\ndegree of the constellation Aries_[80]--the date in round numbers of\n6,000 B.C.\n\n  [80] The winter solstice now coincides very closely with the sun\u2019s\n  entry into Sagittarius. It _precedes_ the sun\u2019s entry into Aries by\n  almost a third of the whole circle of the ecliptic.\n\nTo this same date it is, as I believe, that the miraculous protections\naccorded by the Aswins to the _distressed_ solstitial sun and moon\nand earth appear to point, and fully does this view corroborate the\nopinion that the Aswin-legends took their rise in pre-Vedic times. They\nalso, as do the Indra and Vritra myths, refer us for their origin to\na more northern latitude than tropical India. In the tropics the sun\nis scarcely less powerful in winter than in summer. The astronomers\nwho drew up the Accadian calendar, and the myth-makers of the\nAswin-legends, must, according to the astronomic theory, have dwelt in\ntemperate zones and formulated calendar and myths about 6,000 B.C.\n\n\nVI\n\nNOTES.--AHURA MAZDA, ETC.\n\n  [Ahura Mazda, a note reprinted from the _Proceedings of the Society\n  of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology_, February 1900]\n\nProfessor Hommel in the March number for 1899 of these _Proceedings_\ncalls attention in his _Assyriological Notes_ to the name \u201cAssara\nMazas\u201d appearing in a list of Assyrian gods. The section of the list in\nwhich this name appears contains \u201ca number of foreign sounding names\u201d\nbelonging to gods honoured, presumably, in out-lying portions of the\nAssyrian dominions.\n\nProfessor Hommel claims \u201cthat this god (Assara Mazas) is no other than\nthe Iranian Ahura Mazda,\u201d and he thus concludes his arguments in favour\nof this opinion--\u201cconcerning _Assara-mazas_, I should like to remark in\nclosing this paragraph, that we have here the same older pronunciation\nof Iranian words as in the Kassitic _Surias_, \u2018sun\u2019 (later _Ahura_\nand _Hvarya_, but comp. Sanscrit _Asura_ and _suria_), which is of the\nhighest importance for the history of the Aryan languages. In the same\nKassitic period, between 1,700 and 1,200 B.C., I suppose was borrowed\nby the Assyrians the Iranian god Assara-mazas.\u201d\n\nIn a Paper entitled _The Median Calendar and the Constellation Taurus_,\nprinted in the June number for 1897 of these _Proceedings_, I made a\nvery similar claim for the derivation of the name of the great god of\nthe Assyrians--Assur.\n\nThe claim put forward was not based only on the resemblance in sound of\n\u201cAssur\u201d and \u201cAhura,\u201d but was in the first place founded on the virtual\nidentity of the emblems of Assur and Ahura Mazda. For the _origin_ of\nthese emblems (referring as it was suggested they did to the Zodiacal\nconstellation Sagittarius) a date as high as 4,000 B.C. was, on\nastronomic grounds, assumed, and it was pointed out that at that date\nthere was no evidence of the existence of the Assyrian nation as a\nnation, nor any trace of a Semitic worship of the god Assur; whereas,\non the other hand, as early as 3,800 B.C. there is evidence that a\npowerful Aryan race--the Manda--rivalled the power, and threatened the\nSemitic rule of Sargon of Agane.\n\nThe opinion that the symbol of Ahura Mazda, and of Assur, was of\nancient Aryan origin, naturally suggested the further thought that\nthe _name_ Assur, so closely resembling the earlier Indo-Iranian form\nAsura, of the Iranian Ahura, had, together with the emblem of the god,\nbeen borrowed from the Aryan ancestors of the Medo-Persians by the\nSemitic settlers who, early in the second millennium B.C., established\nthemselves to the north of Babylonia. It may here be pointed out that\nno very certain Semitic derivation at present holds the field which\nthe proposed Aryan derivation would occupy. According to some scholars\nit comes from a word signifying \u201ca well-watered plain.\u201d According\nto Professor Hommel, the name Assur is derived from a word which\noriginally meant \u201cthe heavenly host.\u201d\n\nProfessor Hommel, quoting as his authority the opinions of the Sanscrit\nscholar Oldenburg, and reinforcing Oldenburg\u2019s opinions by arguments\nfrom other sources, further maintains the high probability of the\nMedian god Ahura Mazda having been the representative of the Vedic\nVaruna, and also that Varuna was the moon.\n\nVedic scholars are divided in opinion as to what physical phenomenon is\nrepresented by Varuna. He is very generally supposed to personify \u201cthe\nvast extent of the encompassing sky,\u201d some say especially the sky at\nnight-time--others claim him as a solar divinity, whilst Oldenburg, as\nwe have seen, supposes him to be the moon. It is not to the question,\nhowever, what phenomenon Varuna represented, but to that of the\nprobability or improbability of his original identity with the Median\nAhura Mazda, that I would now draw attention.\n\nIt is said that \u201cthe parallel in character, though not in name, of\nthe god Varuna is Ahura Mazda, the Wise Spirit.\u201d But a variety of\nconsiderations may lead us to entertain the possibility of a Vedic god\nother than Varuna being the parallel in character and in _epithet_\nof Ahura Mazda; a parallel which is also still more clearly to be\nrecognized if we adopt the view, above contended for, of the identity\nof Assur, the _archer_ god of Assyria, with Ahura Mazda.\n\nThe Vedic god Rudra is, like Varuna, an Asura or Spirit. He is\ndescribed as \u201cthe wise,\u201d and his votaries are encouraged to worship him\n\u201cfor a comprehensive and sound understanding.\u201d But in one passage the\nepithet \u201casura maha,\u201d so curiously recalling to our ears the name of\nthe Avestan \u201cAhura Mazda,\u201d is actually applied to him.[81] As a wise\nand great Asura, Rudra seems to be as close a parallel to Ahura Mazda\nas Varuna; the resemblance of epithet in the case of Rudra makes the\nparallelism closer.\n\n  [81] Wilson, _Rig Veda_, Ma\u1e47\u1e0dala ii., I, 6, Uncertainty prevails\n  among scholars as to the exact meaning to be given to the name\n  Ahura Mazda. The Rev. L. H. Mills, D.D., under the heading \u201cZend,\u201d\n  writes thus in _Chambers\u2019s Encyclop\u00e6dia_; \u201cThe Supreme Deity Ahura\n  Mazd\u00e2h, the Living God or \u2018Lord\u2019 (_ahu_ = \u2018the living,\u2019 \u2018life,\u2019 or\n  \u2018spirit\u2019--root _ah_ = \u2018to be\u2019), the Great Creator (_maz_ + _da_ =\n  Sansk. _mah\u00e2_ + _dh\u00e2_), or \u2018the Wise One\u2019 (_cf._ _su-medh\u00e2s_).\u201d\n  Again, the same writer in his book on the G\u00e0th\u00e0s, published in 1894,\n  gives on p. 3 in his \u201cverbatim translation,\u201d \u201cO magni-donator (?)\n  (vel) O Sapiens (?),\u201d as alternative meanings for Mazda. Similar\n  uncertainty seems to prevail as regards the meaning to be attached\n  to the words of the passage in the Rig Veda to which reference has\n  been made above, _i.e._, Ma\u1e47\u1e0dala ii., S\u00fakta i., verse 6. In Wilson\u2019s\n  translation of the Rig Veda, vol. ii., p. 211, we read:--\u201cThou, Agni,\n  art Rudra, the expeller (of foes) from the expanse of heaven\u201d: and\n  in his note to this passage he says: \u201c_Twam Rudro asuro maho divah_:\n  _asura_ is explained \u015batr\u00fan\u00e1m nirasit\u00e1, the expeller of enemies,\n  _divas_, from heaven; or it may mean, the giver of strength....\u201d\n  Macdonell (_Vedic Mythology_, p. 75) says that Rudra is called in\n  this passage \u201cthe great _asura_ of heaven.\u201d\n\nVaruna indeed in Vedic estimation held a much higher and more\ncommanding position than Rudra, but considering how opposed the Avestan\nwas to Vedic mythology on important points, we ought not to expect that\nthe god elevated by the Medians above all others should have held a\nvery exalted place amongst the Brahmins of India.\n\nBut it is when we turn our thoughts not only to Ahura Mazda but to his\nAssyrian representative Assur, that the parallelism between him and\nRudra becomes more marked.\n\nRudra is not only a wise and great Asura, he is above everything else\ncelebrated in the Rig Veda as an archer. He has \u201cthe sure arrow, the\nstrong bow.\u201d[82] He is \u201cthe divine Rudra armed with the strong bow and\nfast flying arrows.\u201d[83]\n\n  [82] Wilson, _Rig Veda_, Ma\u1e47\u1e0dala v., x. (xlii.), 11.\n\n  [83] _Ib._, Ma\u1e47\u1e0dala vii., xiii. (xlvi.), 1.\n\nIn the Paper already referred to, it was suggested that an\nastronomic observation of the equinoctial colure passing through the\nconstellations Sagittarius and Taurus was the probable origin of\nMedian and (as derived from Median) Assyrian symbolism concerning Ahura\nMazda and Assur. This observation could, as was pointed out, only have\nbeen made at the date, in round numbers, of 4,000 B.C.\n\nIt is a very tempting enterprise to seek in the mythologies of\nEuropean nations for allusions to this same astronomic observation--an\nobservation made, as we may believe, when the ancestors of the Iranian\nand Indian Aryans, and possibly the ancestors of the European nations,\nwere still, if not all dwelling together, at least within easy\nintellectual touch of each other.\n\nIn Grecian fable we have the Centaur (the Bull-killer) Chiron giving\nhis name to the constellation Sagittarius, and in this fable we may,\nas it would seem, find a better _astronomic_ explanation of the term\nBull-killer than that usually given concerning the well-mounted\nThessalian hunters of wild cattle. The constellation Sagittarius, an\narcher, half man, half horse, is not a figure of Grecian invention.\nIt is to be met with depicted on Babylonian monuments, unmistakably\nthe archer of our celestial sphere; and this constellation, when it\nrises in the east, always drives below the western horizon--_i.e._,\nmythically exterminates, the last stars of the constellation Taurus.\n\nTo Chiron, the chief Centaur, the epithet \u201cwise\u201d is especially given,\nand \u201che was renowned for his skill in hunting, medicine, music,\ngymnastics, and the art of prophecy\u201d; of these not altogether congruous\nattributes Rudra the Vedic god possessed three of the most important.\nHe was wise, he was an archer, and he was famed as \u201ca chief physician\namong physicians.\u201d[84] In a verse, part of which has been already\nquoted,[85] worshippers are exhorted to \u201cPraise him who has the sure\narrow, the strong bow, who presides over all sanitary drugs; worship\nRudra for a comprehensive and sound understanding, adore the powerful\ndivinity with prostrations.\u201d\n\n  [84] Wilson, _Rig Veda_, Ma\u1e47\u1e0dala ii., xxxiii., 4.\n\n  [85] _Ib._, Ma\u1e47\u1e0dala v., x. (xlii.), 11.\n\nApollo the far-darter, Artemis the goddess of the silver bow, also\nshared these same attributes, and Grecian legend would lead us to\nplace them in the same part of the heavens as that allotted to\nChiron--_i.e._, Sagittarius. Apollo prompted Artemis to aim a shaft\nfrom her bow at a point on the horizon, and this point was the head of\nthe hunter Orion. Now the constellation Orion is exactly in opposition\nto the bow stars of Sagittarius; that the legend is astronomical is\nplainly to be inferred from its variant form, in which Artemis is\nrepresented as sending a Scorpion to sting Orion to death. The stars\nmarking the Scorpion\u2019s sting are in very close proximity to the bow\nstars of Sagittarius.\n\nReturning to Indian myths, the name of Siva does not occur in the\nRig Veda; but in later Sanscrit works Siva is the representative of\nRudra. In a hymn to Siva,[86] the following passages occur, and it is\ndifficult to read them and not be reminded of the sculptured figures of\nArtemis, crescent-crowned and leading a stag by the horns. (Allowance\nmust be made, however, for the tendency in Hindu art to multiply the\nheads, arms, and features of their gods.)\n\n  [86] Hymn to Siva, prefixed to \u201cAn Exposition of the Principles of\n  Sanskrit Logic,\u201d by Bodhanund\u00e1nath Swami, Calcutta.\n\n\u201cI worship the great _Mahesa_, who shines like ten million suns: who is\nadorned with triple eyes: who is crowned with the moon: who is armed\nwith the trident, the bow, the mace, the discus, the goad, and the\nnoose:\n\nWho is the eternal Lord;\n\nWho is bright as the snowy summit of Mount Kail\u00e1\u00e7e; whose matted hair\nis ablaze with the crescent moon;\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhose hands hold the head of a deer and a battle-axe;\n\nWhose forehead is adorned with the bright half-moon;\n\nWhose fingers are interlaced to typify a deer;\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\u201d\n\nFor the explanation of the Roman myths of Dianus and Diana (varying\nforms as the dictionary tells of Janus and Jana) we may naturally seek\nfor the same astronomic origin, as for those concerning the Grecian\narcher divinities.\n\nJanus indeed has not, so far as I know, ever been represented as an\narcher or a Centaur. The attribute for which he is especially renowned\nis that of \u201copener of the year,\u201d and this attribute, on the astronomic\ntheory here proposed, would furnish the connecting link between the\nvarying forms of the Italian deities above mentioned.\n\nThe many and still imperfectly understood changes that were made in\nthe Roman year by successive rulers, have effaced the connexion of\nthat year with the stars which must have originally presided over its\nopening. But Roman tradition embodied in Virgil\u2019s lines speaks of\n\u201cthe bright Bull\u201d who \u201cwith his gilded horns opens the year.\u201d[87] The\ngolden star-tipped horns of the Bull are as we know exactly opposed\nto the westernmost degrees of Sagittarius; and that constellation, in\nopposition to the sun, would therefore have marked the opening of just\nsuch a vernal year as that alluded to by Virgil. Whether this vernal\nyear before the Julian reformation was still the calendrical year in\nRome is, however, very doubtful.\n\n  [87] Virgil, _Georg._, Lib. I., 217, 218.\n\nJanus is represented with two heads, sometimes even with four, \u201cto\ntypify the seasons of the year.\u201d The _full moon_ in Sagittarius 4,000\nB.C. marked the season of the spring equinox--the sun then being in\n_conjunction_ with the stars marking the horn tips of the Bull. The\n_new moon_ in Sagittarius at the same date marked the autumn equinox.\nThe _half waning moon_ in Sagittarius marked the season of the winter\nsolstice: and the half moon of the _crescent or waxing moon_ marked the\nseason of the summer solstice. The four heads of Janus may thus have\nreferred to the four seasons marked by the moon in Sagittarius.\n\nThe fact that the Indian archer Rudra (= Siva) and the Grecian archer\nArtemis, were represented as crowned by the _half_, not the _full\nmoon_, would refer these myths to an Indo-Iranian, not to a somewhat\nlater Iranian source. It was not to the reformed Iranian equinoctial\nyear that they pointed, but to the sun\u2019s triumph at the solstitial\nseason. In the Roman Janus myth we may rather detect the later Median\ninfluence, and suppose that it referred to a year beginning with the\n_full moon_ in Sagittarius, a year opening in the spring, when the\n_sun_ was in conjunction with the \u201cgilded horns\u201d of \u201cthe bright Bull.\u201d\n\nAll these mythological indications, derived from Median, Assyrian,\nIndian, and classical sources, though each of them looked at separately\nmay not speak with much insistence, yet considered together seem to\npoint us more and more clearly as we study them, to the fact that\nabout 4,000 B.C. a very important and authoritative observation of the\ncolures (amongst the Zodiacal constellations) was made, and that upon\nthis observation much of the mythology of ancient nations was founded.\n\n\nVII\n\nANCIENT INDIAN ASTRONOMY\n\n  [Reprinted from the _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical\n  Arch\u00e6ology_, February 1900]\n\nIt is only on Talmudic authority, I think, that astronomy can be denied\na place, and indeed an important place, in researches connected with\nBiblical Arch\u00e6ology.\n\nOn Talmudic authority we are told that, as a protest against the sun-,\nmoon-, and star-worship of surrounding nations, the Hebrews were not\npermitted to calculate in any way beforehand, or by scientific methods\nbased on the movements of the heavenly bodies, their days, their\nmonths, or their years.\n\nThe end of the day and beginning of the night could only be definitely\nascertained when three stars were visible to the observer. The moon\nmust have shown its pale sickle to some watcher of the heavens, before\nthe first of the month could be announced. The beginning of the year,\nwe are also told, was dependent on the earliness or lateness of the\nagricultural season, for three ears of corn, in a sufficiently advanced\nstate of growth, were to be presented to the priest and waved before\nthe Lord _on a fixed day of the first month_ of the year.\n\nThis is what some passages of the Talmud[88] seem to teach; but from\nOld Testament Scriptures, it is not possible to infer these calendrical\nrestrictions with any degree of certainty. On the contrary, there is\nmuch in the Scriptures to lead us to an opposite conclusion.\n\n  [88] _Bible Educator_, edited by Rev. E. H. Plumptre, M.A., vol. iii.\n  pp. 239 and 240. \u201cIt may have been with a view to render astrology\n  impossible, that the Jews were forbidden to keep a calendar in\n  the Holy Land, ... as the length of the lunation, or lunar month,\n  is, roughly speaking, twenty-nine days and a half, it is easy to\n  know, from month to month, when to expect the crescent to become\n  visible. Six times in the year the beginning of the month was\n  decided by observation of the new moon.... On two months of the\n  year the determination of the new moon was of such importance, that\n  the witnesses who observed the crescent were authorized to profane\n  the Sabbath by travelling to give information at Jerusalem. These\n  occasions were the months Nisan and Tisri.... The Mishna records that\n  on one occasion as many as forty pairs of witnesses thus arrived on\n  the Sabbath at Lydda. Rabbi Akiba detained them, but was reproved for\n  so doing by Rabbi Gamaliel.... When the evidence was satisfactory,\n  the judges declared the month to be commenced, and a beacon was\n  lighted on Mount Olivet, from which the signal was repeated on\n  mountain after mountain, until the whole country was aglow with\n  fires.\u201d\n\nOn the very first page of the Bible we read of \u201cthe greater and the\nlesser lights,\u201d and of \u201cthe stars also\u201d set in the heavens, to be \u201cfor\nsigns, and for seasons, and for days and years.\u201d And scarcely have we\nturned this first page, when we meet the statement that \u201cin process of\ntime it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an\noffering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of\nhis flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel\nand to his offering.\u201d In the margin the words \u201cin process of time\u201d are\nrendered \u201cat the end of days.\u201d In considering this passage we seem to\nbe brought into touch with a definitely established year; and at once\narch\u00e6ology and astronomy enter into the field of Biblical research, to\ntell us of a remotely old calendar--astronomic indications would date\nthe origin of this calendar at about 6,000 B.C.--and from this calendar\nwe learn that at \u201cthe end of days\u201d--the end of the _dark_ days of the\nyear--there followed a month of \u201cthe sacrifice of righteousness\u201d: a\nsacrifice, we may well suppose, of the firstlings of the flock, as the\nstars in conjunction with the sun during this first month were imagined\nby the institutors of the calendar under the form of a lamb or ram\nready for sacrifice.\n\nTo this calendrical first month our attention is again drawn when we\nread, in the book of Exodus, of the institution at God\u2019s command of the\nHebrew festival, to be held on the 14th and 15th days of the month Abib.\n\nThis month Abib, it is generally assumed, is the equivalent of the\nmonth Nisan, spoken of in some of the later books of the Old Testament.\n\nAstronomy and arch\u00e6ology again claim a hearing on this point. The\nmonth Nisan, the Semite equivalent of the Accadian month Bar zig-gar\n(the month of the \u201csacrifice of righteousness\u201d), we may gather from\nthe evidence of the cuneiform tablets, had been the first month of\na calendrical year in Babylon for many centuries--for millenniums,\nperhaps--before the date of Moses; and therefore arch\u00e6ology would teach\nus that the children of Israel were being recalled, from strange\nEgyptian modes of reckoning, to the observance of an ancient and\npatriarchal year and festival, when they were told that for them Abib\nwas to be the first month of the year, and that on the 14th of that\nmonth, \u201ca night to be much observed,\u201d they were to sacrifice of the\nfirstlings of their flock, and were to hold the great festival of the\nPassover on the fifteenth day.\n\nIf \u201cAbib,\u201d \u201cNisan,\u201d and \u201cBar zig-gar\u201d are names used by various nations\nto designate one and the same month, Abib could not have been, as\nhas very generally been supposed, a month varying according to the\nuncertain ripening of agricultural crops, and one taking its name from\nthe _ears of corn_ presented to the priest, and waved before the Lord\non some fixed day of that month; but rather it must have been (as\nwe know, from Babylonian sources that Nisan was) a well calculated\nsoli-lunar and sidereal month. Now, if we adopt this view, we must find\nsome alternative derivation for the month name Abib. Nor is it by any\nmeans difficult so to do.\n\nOn the fourteenth night of the first month--Bar zig-gar, Nisan, or\nAbib--\u201ca night to be much observed,\u201d or rather, according to the\nmarginal reading, \u201ca night of observations\u201d--the bright star Spica,\nwhich marks the _ears of corn_ in the Virgin\u2019s hand, rose above the\neastern horizon as the sun set in the west, and at midnight must have\nshone down brilliantly on the Hebrew hosts; for Spica is so bright a\nstar, that even the beams of the full moon riding close at hand could\nnot have obscured its lustre.\n\nThe Indians of to-day name their months from the stars in their lunar\nZodiac which are in _opposition to_, not from those in _conjunction\nwith_, the sun. The close resemblance of the Arab and Indian lunar\nZodiacal series suggests the thought that the Arabs may have followed\nthe same system of month _nomenclature_ as the Indians; and if\nthis were the case it would furnish a reason why Moses, who had so\nlately returned from his forty years\u2019 sojourn in Arabia, should--in\nrecalling the Hebrews to the observance of such a year as that which\nwas presumably followed by their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and\nJacob--have yet spoken of the first month of the year according to a\n_non-Babylonian_ method of nomenclature, and should have called it\nAbib, after the star in _opposition to_ the sun.\n\nIf now we adopt the opinion that an astronomic method of counting the\nyear did in reality obtain amongst the Hebrews, a great difficulty must\npresent itself to our minds in regard to the generally accepted theory\nthat only on a _fixed day of the first month of the year_ might the\nfirst reaped handful of corn be waved before the Lord.\n\nThe seasons in Palestine are not more punctual than in other countries.\nTo restrict a husbandman to a fixed day of a year (even such a year as\nours) before which he might not begin to put his sickle into the corn,\nwould be felt as a hurtful and arbitrary regulation; but to restrict\nthe husbandman to a fixed day in a luni-solar year would be a still\nmore hurtful regulation. The beginning of a soli-lunar year may vary\nto the extent of a whole month. A late beginning of such a year might\ncoincide with a very early agricultural season, and _vice versa_ an\nearly calendrical year might occur in a late agricultural season.\n\nConsiderations of this nature may incline us to inquire carefully\nwhether the \u201cgenerally accepted theory\u201d (concerning the waving of the\nears of corn before the Lord during the Passover week) rests upon\nScriptural authority or on Talmudic and traditional teaching. As\nagainst an almost unbroken array of commentators, it is possible in\nthis connexion to quote from the work of a learned Hebrew scholar a\nclearly expressed opinion that from the Scriptures themselves, it is\nnot possible to infer directly a connexion in date between the waving\nof the first fruits and the Passover festival.[89]\n\n  [89] _Pentateuque_, Traduction Nouvelle, par Rabbi Wogue (Lazare),\n  tom. 3. Discussing an important difference of opinion which exists\n  amongst Jewish scholars and commentators as to the exact day of\n  the Passover festival, on which the priest was to wave the sheaf\n  before the Lord, the writer says: \u201cLe texte porte: \u2018Le Lendemain du\n  Sabbat,\u2019 indication qui a donn\u00e9 lieu \u00e0 une dissidence importante\n  entre les Pharisiens et les Saduc\u00e9ens.... Nous avons adopt\u00e9 le\n  syst\u00e8me talmudique, qui a pour lui l\u2019autorit\u00e9 des Septante, des\n  targoum\u00eem, de Josephe, et l\u2019usage imm\u00e9morial de la Synagogue; mais,\n  \u00e0 ne consulter que les textes sans parti pris, nous ne souscririons\n  \u00e0 aucune des deux doctrines. Ni la c\u00e9r\u00e9monie de l\u2019\u00f4mer, ni le comput\n  des semaines, ne sont mis par nos textes en rapport avec la P\u00e2que,\n  mais uniquement avec les moissons, soit ici, soit dans le Deut\u00e9ronome\n  (xvi. 9). D\u00e8s la r\u00e9colte de l\u2019orge, le divin L\u00e9gislateur veut qu\u2019on\n  lui fasse hommage des pr\u00e9mices de cette c\u00e9r\u00e9ale; il n\u2019indique point\n  de date, parceque la moisson, pas plus que la vendange, et pas plus\n  en Palestine qu\u2019ailleurs, ne commence \u00e0 jour fixe. Mais une fois\n  ouverte, elle se continue sans interruption; et comme les froments,\n  en Palestine, sont coup\u00e9s sept semaines apr\u00e8s, les pr\u00e9mices du\n  froment doivent \u00eatre offertes au bout de sept semaines. L\u2019Omer et\n  la Pentec\u00f4te sont donc mobiles par exception, mais cette derni\u00e8re\n  est relativement fixe. Maintenant de quel \u2018Sabbat\u2019 est il question?\n  Puisque tout ici est subordonn\u00e9 \u00e0 _l\u2019ouverture de la moisson_, ce\n  sera naturellement le Sabbat qui suit cette ouverture.\u201d\n\nBut if our enquiries should lead us to accept, as at least a\nprobability, the existence in Mosaic times of an astronomically\ncounted Hebrew year, and if this admission should require us to change\nlong-held opinions regarding the right observance of Hebrew festivals,\non the other hand, the fact that we might then trace _Arabian_ rather\nthan _Babylonian_ influence in the name of Abib would have its weight\non the conservative side of the controversy concerning the post or\npre-exilic _date_ of the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy.\n\nThe fact that in India the months are named after the stars in\nopposition to the sun suggested the above proposed explanations of\nthe Hebrew month name Abib as that of the month when the sun was in\nconjunction with the constellation Aries, and in opposition to the star\nSpica, marking the Zodiacal ears of corn. But there is a further point\nof connexion to be observed between Indian astronomy and Biblical\narch\u00e6ology, namely, that the _first month of the Indian year_ is at\nthe present date the month during which the sun is in conjunction with\nthe constellation Aries. This month is called Chaitra, which is the\nSanscrit name of the star Spica, and it is in fact the same sidereally\nmarked month, which, according to the opinions here advocated, was the\nfirst month of the ancient Accadian, Babylonian, and Hebrew years.\n\nIt must, therefore, be a question of interest to Biblical students to\ndetermine, if possible, whether this Indian _first month_ has only\nso been counted (as some scholars tell us) since about 570 A.D., or\nwhether it has so been counted from the same remote time as was the\nAccadian month Bar zig-gar, that is, possibly, from about 6,000 B.C.\n\nThis question as to the month Chaitra forms part only of a larger\ncontroversy which has been long waged, concerning the antiquity, or\notherwise, of the whole science of astronomy in India.\n\nTo this larger controversy I have drawn attention in my Paper,\n_Astronomy in the Rig Veda_, read before the Congress of Orientalists\nassembled at Rome in 1899. In that Paper, arguments are put forward in\nsupport of the opinion that the Vedic bards possessed an acquaintance\nwith the science of astronomy, and that much of the imagery of the\nhymns bore reference to the constellations of the Zodiac. For the\ngods Indra, Soma, Agni, and the Aswins, astronomic interpretations\nare proposed; and finally the question, which as it seems to me is\none specially deserving the attention of the Society of Biblical\nArch\u00e6ology--the question of the position of the month Chaitra as first\nmonth of the Indian year in Vedic and pre-Vedic times is discussed,\nand the claim that it was, and throughout remote ages had ever been,\nvirtually the same month as the Accadian Bar zig-gar is insisted upon.\n\nPursuing further the controversy concerning the antiquity of astronomy\namongst the Aryan races, in the note on \u201cAhura Mazda\u201d (p. 152),\nI proposed an identification of the Vedic Rudra with the Median\ngod--the god who presided over the Median equinoctial year, marked by\nobservation of the full moon in the constellation Sagittarius.\n\nContinuing then our enquiries into the astronomic myths of ancient\nIndia, let us turn our attention to the sons of Rudra--the _Maruts_.\nThey are a group of gods very prominent among Vedic deities, and it\nis to be noted that Rudra is oftener alluded to in the Rig Veda as\nthe father of the Maruts than in almost any other capacity. Now the\nMaruts--the stormy troop of Maruts--are celebrated as the companions\nand friends of Indra. They are \u201cassociated with him in innumerable\npassages.\u201d Here, at first sight, it might seem that the proposed\nastronomical identification of Indra and Rudra as solstitial and\nequinoctial personifications must break down; for how should the sons\nof the equinoctial Rudra always appear as the devoted companions of the\nsolstitial Indra?\n\nOn further examination, however, a very interesting explanation of this\ndifficulty presents itself. From a hymn (quoted at p. 157) to Siva, the\nHindu representative of the Vedic Rudra, we learn that the crescent\nhalf-moon blazes on the forehead of Siva. Now the crescent half-moon,\nin the western degrees of the constellation Sagittarius, would, 4,500\nB.C., have marked the month of the summer solstice; for the moon,\nin its \u201cfirst quarter\u201d in the first degrees of Sagittarius, must\nattain to \u201cfull moon\u201d seven days later, either in the constellation\nAquarius or Pisces, and the full moon in one or other of those two\nconstellations marked the season of the summer solstice somewhat\nearlier than 4,000 B.C. The Maruts are often spoken of in the Veda as a\ntroop, seven in number, or as seven troops of seven, or as three times\nseven in number. The astronomical thought therefore suggests itself,\nthat the seven Maruts represent the seven days that elapsed between\nthe crescent half-moon, blazing on the brow of Rudra, and the full\nmoon of the summer solstice, or Soma pavamana--Soma purified in the\ncelestial waters (see Plate XIII.). And this explanation of the Maruts\ndoes not contradict, but rather agrees with and includes the usual\nnon-astronomic explanations held regarding them, namely, that they are\n_storm winds_; for we know that the days which accompany the setting\nin of the solstitial rainy season in India are the days in which the\nfierce tropical hurricanes or monsoons prevail.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XIII.\n\n  Outer circle divided into 360 degrees.\n\n  2nd circle. The names and extent of the twenty-seven Indian\n  \u201cNakshatras\u201d or divisions of the Lunar Zodiac.\n\n  3rd circle. Names and extent of the twelve Indian \u201cRashis\u201d or\n  divisions of the Solar Zodiac.\n\n  4th circle. Proposed three-fold division of the Vedic Lunar Month at\n  Season of Summer Solstice.\n\n  Section of 5th circle. Proposed identification of \u201cMaruts\u201d with\n  Moon\u2019s course through seven \u201cNakshatras\u201d at Season of Summer Solstice.\n\n  The Constellations here appear as drawn on the celestial globe;\n  they have not been reversed as in the other illustrations, hence an\n  apparent, though not real, contradiction ensues.\n\n[_To face p. 174._]\n\nNow let us turn from the Maruts to another, as it seems to me, lunar\nand solstitial myth, namely, that of Trita Aptya.\n\nTrita Aptya is a friend of the Maruts, and is said to have appeared on\nthe same car with them. He is constantly, in the hymns, associated with\nIndra, and feats recorded in one passage as performed by Indra, are in\nanother passage of the same hymn attributed to Trita.\n\nTrita is also often spoken of together with Soma; and in the ninth\nMa\u1e47\u1e0dala, again and again we read of the ten \u201cmaidens, or fingers,\u201d of\nTrita preparing the Soma juice for Indra.\n\nAll these attributes of Trita, and others to be mentioned later, are\neasily explainable on the astronomic theory already propounded in the\nidentifications of Indra, of Soma, and of the Maruts.\n\nIn the name Trita there is certainly a suggestion of the number\n_three_, and Macdonell, in his _Vedic Mythology_,[90] brings proof to\nshow \u201cthat it was felt to have the meaning of the third\u201d--that is, in\norder of sequence.\n\n  [90] P. 69.\n\nBut though the third, in this sense, does not actually carry with it\nthe meaning of _third of a whole_; yet, to any one in search of an\nastronomical explanation of the Trita myth, the reiterated mention\nof the ten fingers of Trita quickly suggests the thought of a whole\ndivided into three chief parts, each part containing ten lesser\ndivisions--a whole therefore of thirty parts.\n\nNow the lunar month--in reality consisting of twenty-nine and a half\nsolar days (with some fractions over)--is in Hindu calendrical usage\ndivided into thirty equal portions of time called \u201ctithis,\u201d which are\nconsidered as lunar days; and here, as it would seem, we arrive at the\nphysical basis of the Trita myth. Trita Aptya, or Trita in the waters\n(or of the waters), appears as the third part of the lunar month--the\npart during which the moon is to be seen in the celestial waters; and\nas Trita is so closely connected with Indra and Soma pavamana, that\nthird part must have been the ten lunar days (five before and five\nafter \u201cthe full\u201d) during which the moon is at its brightest, and in the\nconstellation Aquarius.\n\nIf we think of Trita Aptya as a personification of the triumphant third\nof the moon\u2019s course through the constellations of the Zodiac at the\nseason of the summer solstice (see Plate XIII.), and if we remember\nthat the moon during the ten lunar days contained in that \u201cthird\u201d\ncame to its full in Aquarius or in Pisces, sometimes indeed at the\njuncture of these constellations, we shall be able to understand much\nof the figurative language of the Veda, which associates Trita with the\nstormy Maruts, with the victories of Indra over Vritra, and with the\neffulgence of Soma pavamana.\n\nThere is a legend concerning Trita not related but alluded to in the\nRig Veda. This legend tells us that Trita was one of three brothers\n(Ekata, Dvita, and Trita), and that he was pushed into a well by his\nbrothers, and over the mouth of the well a circular covering was placed\nwith intent to keep Trita down and drown him. But through the circular\ncovering the ever-triumphant Trita burst. Here there can be little\ndoubt is a mythic description of the temporary disaster of eclipse\novertaking the full moon of the summer solstice in the celestial waters\nof Aquarius or Pisces. The circular covering can be nothing else than\nthe circular shadow of the earth covering the disc of the full moon,\nand Trita\u2019s triumph may well remind us of the serene victoriousness of\nthe moon when it has emerged from eclipse and rides unharmed along the\nsky.\n\nIn the Zend Avesta Thrita corresponds in many points with the Vedic\nTrita. Thraetona also represents Trita under some of his other aspects,\nand mention is made of Thraetona\u2019s \u201ctwo brothers who seek to slay him\non the way.\u201d[91] From these facts it may be inferred that the Trita\nmyth is pre-Vedic. We need not, therefore, be surprised to find traces\nof it in European mythologies. The name of Trita, with only a change\nof termination, appears as the Greek Triton, and we may guess at an\nallusion in the sculptured forms of Greek and Roman Tritons--half men\nand half fish--to the two watery constellations, Aquarius and Pisces,\nin which the Vedic Trita Aptya (son of waters) made his abode. The\nRoman rendering of these composite figures, especially, may recall\nto our minds the Zodiacal basis of the myth--the two fish of Pisces\nappearing in Italian art, as the two fish-tails which terminate the\nhuman-headed figure of the Triton. Again Hecate, as has been pointed\nout by scholars, bears a close resemblance in name to Ekata. Hecate was\na lunar divinity; she was worshipped and sacrificed to at the close of\nthe month. We may therefore suppose she represented the waning moon.\nShe is further said to have been the daughter of Perseus and Asteria.\nLooking at the figures of the celestial sphere (see Plate), we may\ntrace the third part of the moon\u2019s course--the ten days of its waning\nappropriated to Ekata--and observe how this portion of its course began\nclose to the _constellation Perseus_. Thus the Sanscrit Trita myth may\nexplain the name and parentage of the Grecian Hecate.[92]\n\n  [91] Macdonell, _Vedic Mythology_, p. 69.\n\n  [92] It is not to be supposed that only the month of the summer\n  solstice was divided into the three parts, personified by Ekata,\n  Dvita, and Trita: the legend of Trita Aptya, that is, Trita in the\n  waters (or, of the waters), is necessarily restricted to that season\n  in which the moon came to its full in the constellations Aquarius or\n  Pisces. Some interesting indications in Indian and Greek mythology\n  seem to point to a similar division of other months, but the subject\n  is surrounded with uncertainties and difficulties.\n\nA study of ancient European calendars may, on the other hand, eke out\nour knowledge concerning the astronomic scheme in which Trita and his\nbrothers played such important parts. We read that in the Attic year\n\u201ceach month was divided into three decades,\u201d and the statement may\nconfirm us in the opinion that, following an almost too mathematically\nimagined calendrical method, the ancestors of the Aryan race in remote\nages counted their months, not as containing twenty-nine-and-a-half\nsolar days, but as a portion of time containing three great equal\ndivisions, the first, the second, and the third--Ekata, Dvita,\nTrita--each of these three parts being again subdivided into ten equal\ntithis. If this should have been the case, it would be interesting to\nnote that the Greeks (and the Romans also, as shown by their cumbrous\nsystem of Kalends, Nones, and Ides) retained the plan of a threefold\ndivision of the months, but lost the originally concomitant arrangement\nof the ten equal divisions of each part into tithis, whence much\ndifficulty ensued for Greeks and Romans alike in counting lunar months\nof alternately thirty and twenty-nine days. Indian astronomers, on\nthe other hand, who retain the accurate and elaborate division of the\nmonth into equal tithis, must have long ago lost the thought of its\noriginally threefold partition, for the Indians count each month as\ncomposed not of three periods of time, but of _a light and a dark\nhalf_.[93]\n\n  [93] \u201cThe Luni-Solar year is used for the regulation of festivals\n  and domestic arrangements; it commences at present at the instant\n  of conjunction of the Sun and Moon in the Sidereal month Chaitra.\n  The Hindu Lunar months invariably consist of thirty Tithis, or Lunar\n  days; and the whole month is divided into two equal parts of fifteen\n  Tithis each, the one called Shukla or Shuddh Paksha--the bright half\n  or increase of the Moon; the other Krishna or Vadya Paksha--the dark\n  half or decrease of the Moon.\u201d (_The Indian Calendar_ for the year\n  1892.)\n\nTo one more lunar Vedic personage let us direct our attention: namely,\nto Atri--Atri who, unlike the conquering and ever-victorious Trita, is\nchiefly celebrated for his misfortunes. Agni, Indra, and especially\nthe Aswins, moved by his misfortunes, come to the help of Atri, and\nby means of a hundred acts, a hundred devices, they extricate him\nfrom captivity, whether from a dark cavern or from a burning chasm.\nThey make the time of his captivity even pleasant to him, giving him\nrefreshing drink.\n\nOne of our own poets may help us to understand the Vedic metaphor of\nAtri\u2019s darksome cave. In the _Samson Agonistes_ of Milton, the hero,\ndescribing his blindness, says--\n\n    \u201cThe sun to me is dark\n    And silent as the moon\n    When she deserts the night,\n    Hid in her vacant interlunar cave.\u201d\n\nAtri is, I believe, a personification of the _New Moon_, and thus we\nmay understand how he is sometimes described as hidden in a dark cave,\nwhile at other times he is spoken of as in a fiery chasm, when the\nuppermost thought in the Vedic poet\u2019s mind is the close conjunction\nof the moon at that time with the burning sun. From his dark cave, or\nburning chasm, Atri is delivered by the \u201chundred acts\u201d of worship and\nsacrifice which it was the custom in India, as in many other countries,\nto offer up at the time of New Moon, especially at the marked festivals\nof the winter and summer solstice, or the beginning of the calendrical\nyear. On one occasion[94] we hear of Atri coming to the assistance of\nthe sun, which had been hidden by the demon Swarbh\u0101nu. This darkening\nof the sun is generally understood to refer to a solar eclipse. A solar\neclipse can only take place at the time of new moon. It is a little\npuzzling to find Atri, if Atri personifies the new moon, saving the sun\nfrom eclipse instead of being the cause of the disaster; but as in the\nRig Veda Atri always appears as a friend, not an enemy, of the gods of\nlight--Agni, Indra, and the Aswins--we may suppose that the Vedic bard\nchose to represent him as being present at, rather than causing the\nsun\u2019s eclipse. It may also be that a certain number of divisions of\nlunar time were considered as personified by Atri, and that an eclipse\nterminated in the third or fourth of those divisions; so that it could\nbe said that Atri \u201cby his fourth sacred prayer\u201d discovered the sun.\nThe passage is no doubt a difficult one; still the fact that Atri was\npresent at the eclipse of the sun seems to tell rather in favour of\nthan against the supposition that Atri was a personification of the\ntime of new moon.\n\n  [94] Wilson\u2019s _Rig Veda_, vol. iii. p. 297, _Ma\u1e47\u1e0dala_, V. xl. \u201c5.\n  When, S\u00farya, the son of the _Asura_ Swarbh\u00e1nu overspread thee with\n  darkness, the worlds were beheld like one bewildered, knowing not\n  his place. 6. When, Indra, thou wast dissipating those illusions of\n  Swarbh\u00e1nu which were spread below the Sun, then Atri, by his fourth\n  sacred prayer, discovered the Sun concealed by the darkness impeding\n  his functions. 7. (S\u00farya speaks) Let not the violator, Atri, through\n  hunger swallow with fearful (darkness) me who am thine; thou art\n  Mitra, whose wealth is truth; do thou and the royal Varuna both\n  protect me. 8. Then the Brahman (Atri), applying the stones together,\n  propitiating the gods with praise, and adoring them with reverence,\n  placed the eye of S\u00farya in the sky; he dispersed the delusions of\n  Swarbh\u00e1nu. 9. The Sun, whom the _Asura_, Swarbh\u00e1nu, had enveloped\n  with darkness, the sons of Atri subsequently recovered; no others\n  were able (to effect his release).\u201d\n\nThe four astronomical interpretations here proposed for Rudra, the\nMaruts, Trita Aptya, and Atri, are all harmonious with and supplemental\nto the four discussed in my Paper read at Rome, and entitled\n_Astronomy in the Rig Veda_. They must to a great extent all stand or\nfall together. They have been very briefly stated, but if indeed an\nastronomic basis does, as suggested, underlie Vedic imagery, Sanscrit\nscholars, with the science of etymology at their command, will easily\nbe able to follow up and pronounce upon the value of the clues here\nhazarded.\n\n\nVIII\n\nTHE CHINESE CALENDAR, WITH SOME REMARKS WITH REFERENCE TO THAT OF THE\nCHALDEANS\n\n  [Reprinted from the _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical\n  Arch\u00e6ology, December 1901_]\n\nThe Chinese Lunar Zodiac is divided into 28 star groups named Siou.\nGustav Schlegel in his _Uranographie Chinoise_ having enumerated\nthese 28 siou--or as he translates that term, \u201cdomiciles\u201d--says: \u201cLa\npremi\u00e8re chose qui nous frappe en voyant la liste des 28 domiciles,\nc\u2019est qu\u2019elle commence par le domicile _Kio_, ou la _Vierge_, preuve\npositive que c\u2019\u00e9tait avec ce domicile que l\u2019ann\u00e9e a d\u00fb commencer\nprimitivement,\u201d[95] and further on he quotes from \u201cle _Eul-ya_ cette\nantique dictionnaire,\u201d as follows: \u201c_L\u2019Ancien des constellations_,\nc\u2019est _Kio_ et _Kang_ ... ils sont les chefs des domiciles, et \u00e0\ncause de cela on les nomme _l\u2019ancien des constellations_: et \u2018le signe\nd\u2019Ancien des constellations\u2019 est exactement les domiciles _Kio_ et\n_Kang_.\u201d[96] Schlegel adds: \u201cCe nom de _Ancien des constellations_\nr\u00e9pond exactement \u00e0 celui de _Princeps Signorum_ que les astrologues\nromains donnerent au _b\u00e9lier_; \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9poque o\u00f9 cette constellation\n\u00e9tait signe de l\u2019\u00e9quinoxe du printemps. C\u2019est-\u00e0-dire que le signe qui\nannon\u00e7ait le commencement de l\u2019ann\u00e9e \u00e9tait le premier, le Princeps\nsignorum, l\u2019Ancien, le Chef, des constellations. Mais ces \u00e9toiles de\nla Vierge portent encore d\u2019autres noms qui tous out rapport au fait\nastronomique que l\u2019ast\u00e9risme _Kio_ ouvrait l\u2019ann\u00e9e. Le \u2018Sing-king\u2019 les\nnomme les _Chefs des quatre r\u00e9gions_, les _L\u00e9gions c\u00e9lestes_.... _Elles\npr\u00e9sident aux m\u00e9tamorphoses de la cr\u00e9ation: elles sont travers\u00e9es\npar l\u2019\u00e9cliptique et les sept clart\u00e9s (7 planets) commencent (leur\nr\u00e9volution) par elles._\u201d\n\n  [95] _Uranographie Chinoise_, p. 79.\n\n  [96] _Uranographie Chinoise_, p. 87.\n\nThe concluding words from the Sing-king which I have marked in\nitalics--giving as they do the opinions held by ancient _Chinese_\nwriters respecting the first divisions of their Lunar Zodiac--may\nremind us of the opinions held by _Indian_ astronomers as to their\nfirst division of the Zodiac.\n\nIn Whitney\u2019s comments on the _S\u00fbrya Siddh\u00e2nta_ he observes:--\u201cThe\ninitial point of the fixed Hindu sphere, from which longitudes are\nreckoned, _and at which the planetary motions are held by all schools\nof Hindu astronomy to have commenced at the creation_, is the end of\nthe asterism Revat\u00ee, or the beginning of A\u00e7vin\u00ee.\u201d[97]\n\n  [97] V. p. 93.\n\nIt is impossible to read of these two traditions concerning the\ninitial point of the Chinese and of the Hindu ecliptic series of\nconstellations, without suspecting some underlying cause common to both\ntraditions.\n\nThe Chinese and Hindu initial points are diametrically opposite to each\nother on the ecliptic. Calendrically speaking, such opposite points may\nbe taken to mark the same season and the same month--as for instance,\nin the old Accadian calendar the month names referred to the stars in\n_conjunction_ with the sun. The month of the sacrifice of righteousness\ncorresponded to the month during which the sun was in conjunction with\nthe sacrificial Ram. This same month counted (theoretically) from the\narrival of the sun at the end of Revati and beginning of Aswin\u012b--the\ninitial point of the Indian Zodiac--is in India called, after the star\ngroup in _opposition_, Chaitra.\n\nSpica (\u03b1 Virginis) is the chief star of the Nakshatra Chaitra, and\nSpica also is the chief star of the Chinese siou Kio, \u201cl\u2019ast\u00e9risme,\u201d\nwhich, according to the tradition above recorded, \u201couvrait l\u2019ann\u00e9e,\u201d\nand which (together with the neighbouring \u201csiou Kang), pr\u00e9sident aux\nm\u00e9tamorphoses de la cr\u00e9ation,\u201d \u201csont travers\u00e9es par l\u2019\u00e9cliptique, et\nles sept clart\u00e9s commencent leur r\u00e9volution par elles.\u201d\n\nTo any interested in the history of the Chinese calendar, or rather to\nany interested in the history of the human race, the question as to\nthe reason for the choice of this point and for the equal honour in\nwhich it was held (as we have seen) by the Accadian, the Hindu, and the\nChinese nations, is a question worthy of close attention.\n\nIn former Papers contributed to these _Proceedings_, I have drawn\nattention to the many indications in ancient cuneiform and Indian\nliterature, which seem to point to the conclusion that about 6,000\nB.C., in some part of Asia and in a latitude probably as far north\nas 40 degrees, a calendar was instituted by \u201csome ancient race of\nmen,\u201d that this calendar dealt with a year beginning at the season\nof the _winter solstice_, and that the stars which at that date were\nchosen to mark the solstitial year were those in the first degrees of\nthe constellation Aries in _conjunction_ with--and the bright star\nSpica in _opposition_ to--the sun. I suggested that the Accadians and\nlater Babylonians, as also the Aryans of India, continued to follow as\nstar-marks for their years the constellations chosen by the institutors\nof this ancient calendar, and that therefore in the course of ages\nthe beginning of the years of these peoples moved gradually away from\nthe season of the _winter solstice_, approaching always nearer to\nthe _vernal equinox_, close to which point we find it \u201cbound\u201d at the\ntime of the fall of the Babylonian power; while in India, where the\nstar-mark Spica is still followed, the year now begins about twenty\ndays after the spring equinox.\n\nIndications in Mesopotamian and Indian literature have seemed to me to\npoint to the above conclusions. The opposed view, held by most writers\non the subject, is that only at the late date (about the beginning of\nour era) when the stars of Aries in conjunction, and the star of Spica\nin opposition, marked the _equinoctial_ season, were they adopted\nas marks for the beginning of the year by Babylonians and Hindus\nrespectively.\n\nI think that the position held by the star Spica in Chinese ancient\nastronomical tradition may be claimed as telling strongly in favour of\nan originally _solstitial_ as opposed to an originally _equinoctial_\nbeginning of the sidereal years of the Accadian, Hindu, and Chinese\nnations, for never has the claim been made that the _Chinese_ years\nwere counted from the vernal equinox; but on the contrary the opinion\nhas been very generally held and expressed by Chinese scholars that\nat some remote date the new year\u2019s festival was held in China at the\nseason of the winter solstice.\n\nGustav Schlegel, one of the latest writers on the subject of Chinese\nastronomy, though he admits that, \u201cselon l\u2019opinion g\u00e9n\u00e9rale l\u2019ann\u00e9e\nchinoise commence toujours avec le solstice d\u2019hiver,\u201d has put forward\na view entirely opposed to this generally held opinion: according to\nhis theory, the Chinese have from the most remote times counted their\nyears, as they count them at present--_i.e._, from the new moon nearest\nto _the season mid-way between the winter solstice and the spring\nequinox_: and as he is convinced--as we have seen--that the beginning\nof the Chinese year was originally marked by the asterism Kio, he\ndemands as the lowest possible date for this origin of the Chinese\ncalendar, that of 16,916 B.C., when the constellation Kio marked, by\nits heliacal rising, the mid-season between solstice and equinox.\n\nSchlegel brings forward many learned and ingenious arguments drawn from\nChinese literature to support this theory. It would be impossible at\nsecond hand, and in a small space, to state fairly his arguments with\na view to rebutting them. His volumes are full of valuable information\nconcerning the \u201cUranographie Chinoise,\u201d but it has not seemed to me\nwhen reading and re-reading his work, that the grounds on which he\nrelies are sufficiently established to support the high claims to\nantiquity which he puts forward for the origin of the modern Chinese\nmethod of counting the year from the mid-season between solstice and\nequinox.\n\nIt has on the contrary seemed to me that on historical grounds a theory\nmay be arrived at which will furnish a reasonable explanation of the\npresent somewhat exceptional Chinese calendrical methods, and which\nwill, if it is accepted, strongly reinforce the grounds for holding the\nalready general opinion that the year in ancient times in China was\nsolstitial. That opinion once established must lead us with increased\nconfidence to attribute the honour traditionally paid by Hindus and\nChinese alike to the initial point of their respective ecliptic series\nof star groups to, as I have said, their common acquaintance with a\ncalendar established on high authority at the date in round numbers of\n6,000 B.C.\n\nThe year in China is luni-solar, and it is, as has been pointed out,\ncounted from the season exactly midway between the winter solstice and\nthe spring equinox.\n\nIt is counted from this mid-season and not from the sun\u2019s opposition\nto, or conjunction with, any particular star or star group. It is\ntherefore not a _sidereal_ but a _tropical_ year; and it is estimated\nat exactly the same length as is our European Gregorian year.\n\nWe here in Europe are not yet tired of congratulating ourselves on the\nscientific success attained by Pope Gregory XIII., when in 1582 he,\nwith the help of many learned men and astronomers, established, as a\nreform of the earlier Julian calendar, a method of securely binding all\nrecurring anniversaries--civil and ecclesiastical--to the exact same\n_season_ of the year.\n\nCalculations for the arrangement of the Julian calendar had strained\nthe scientific powers of the astronomers of Greece and Rome in C\u00e6sar\u2019s\ntime, but the length of the year estimated by them was twelve minutes\ngreater than that arrived at by the astronomers of Gregory\u2019s later date.\n\nTo find, as we do, in the far east of Asia a people counting the\nlength of their luni-solar year with the same accurate exactness as\nthat only attained to as late as 1582 A.D. in Europe, might well\ncause us surprise, were it not that history furnishes us with an easy\nexplanation of this exact identity of Chinese and European calendrical\ncalculations, by teaching us that the calendar by which the Chinese now\ncount their years, and by which they have counted them for nearly three\nhundred years, was really compiled at Peking by Roman ecclesiastics,\nto whom the Gregorian methods were well known, and for whom, indeed,\nthe study of these methods must have possessed the charm of novelty\nadded to its intrinsic utility and scientific interest.\n\nTwo learned Jesuit Fathers obtained in the 17th century great influence\nat the Chinese Court. In 1600 A.D., Matteo Ricci was allowed with his\ncompanions to settle at Peking, where he spent the remainder of his\nlife in teaching mathematics and other sciences.\n\nIn 1610, Johann Adam von Schall, another learned Jesuit Father, \u201cwas\nsent out partly in consequence of his knowledge of mathematics and\nastronomy to China,\u201d and was ultimately \u201cinvited to the Imperial\nCourt at Peking, where _he was entrusted with the reformation of the\ncalendar_ and the direction of the public mathematical school.\u201d[98]\n\n  [98] _Chambers\u2019s Encyclop\u00e6dia_, 1901.\n\nUnder these circumstances, when we read that \u201caccording to the Chinese\nwork, _Wan-nian-shu_, or \u2018Ten thousand-year Calendar,\u2019 in which the\nelements of the Chinese calendar from 1624 A.D. until 1921 A.D. are\ncalculated by the Astronomical Board at Peking, the earliest date of\nthe Chinese New Year\u2019s Day is January 21st, and the latest February\n20th\u201d[99]--when we read this and remember that Johann Adam von Schall\nwas in 1624 in charge of the reformation of the calendar at Peking, we\nneed feel no surprise to find \u201cthe elements of the Chinese calendar\u201d\ncalculated in advance for 279 tropical, that is Gregorian, years.\nIndeed the influence of the European ecclesiastic in these calculations\nis clearly to be recognized in their very form, for we are easily\nreminded by it of the \u201cTable to find Easter from the present time\nto--such and such a year--A.D. inclusive,\u201d prefixed to our English\nBooks of Common Prayer. And we may be tempted to smile when we see\nthe jealously conservative Chinese nation so peaceably--perhaps\nunwittingly--accepting a reformation of their calendar at the hands of\nforeigners, and contrast with this acceptance the turbulent opposition\nwith which for so long the introduction of the Gregorian calendar into\nmany European countries was resisted.\n\n  [99] _On Chronology and the Construction of the Calendar, with\n  special regard to the Chinese Computation of Time compared with the\n  European._ By Dr. K. Fritsche.\n\nIt may well be that the Jesuit Fathers to whom the Emperor entrusted\nthe reformation of the calendar were themselves not aware of the\nmagnitude of the reformation they were introducing into Chinese\nmethods, for they found the luni-solar festival of the new year, as we\nmay learn from the Chinese literature of that date, occurring close\nto that _season_ to which they then so scientifically bound it. But,\naccording to the theory which in this Paper I am anxious to advocate,\nthis _season_ midway between solstice and equinox had not been chosen\nwith definite intention as the first of the year by the Chinese, but\nhad only been arrived at, in consequence of an age-long following on\ntheir part of a star group, chosen thousands of years earlier, by one\nof their ancient emperors, as that from which the beginning of their\nyear was to be counted. This star group was the Siou (domicile) Hiu,\nthe eleventh division of their Lunar Zodiac, and it is marked by the\nstars \u03b2 Aquarii and \u03b1 Equulei. (See diagram.)[100]\n\n  [100] The 28 Siou are not of equal extent, and there are many\n  discrepancies in the Chinese tables which profess to give the number\n  of degrees attributed to each. In the diagram, therefore, only the\n  stars which compose the three adjoining domiciles, Niu, Hiu, and Wei\n  are noted, and they are connected by straight lines, according to\n  Chinese astronomical custom.\n\nThere is in the great History of China a description given of a\nreformation of the calendar carried out by the Emperor Tchuen-Hio,\nwhose date is placed at 2510-2431 B.C. The conjunction of the sun and\nmoon close to the Siou Hiu is in this description clearly referred to\nas a mark given for the beginning of the year. But the fact of this\nchoice of the star mark Hiu has, for European scholars, been obscured\nby a most unfortunate paraphrase made use of by P\u00e8re de Mailla, the\ntranslator into French of the _Histoire G\u00e9n\u00e9rale de la Chine_. He gives\nus in the passage describing Tchuen-Hio\u2019s reformation the phrase, \u201c15\u00b0\ndu Verseau,\u201d instead of the Chinese expression, \u201cthe Siou Hiu.\u201d[101]\n\n  [101] The fact that P. de Mailla has so paraphrased the Chinese\n  original has thus plainly been attested by the late Professor Legge.\n  In answer to a question addressed to him on the subject, he wrote,\n  in December 1894, to Mr. H. W. Greene, Fellow of Magdalen College,\n  Oxford, as follows: \u201cIn the passage from P. de Mailla\u2019s History, that\n  writer is both translating and paraphrasing \u2018the star group Hiu.\u2019\u201d\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XIV.\n\nDomiciles Niu, Hiu and Wei, of the Chinese Lunar Zodiac.]\n\nThe Siou Hiu extends over some eight or ten degrees of the ecliptic in\nthe constellation Aquarius; to restrict to _one_ degree the given star\nmark was an inaccuracy serious enough in an astronomical statement, but\nthis inaccuracy is as nothing when compared with the further entire\ndistortion of facts occasioned by P. de Mailla\u2019s use of the ambiguous\nphrase, \u201c15\u00b0 du Verseau,\u201d ambiguous because it can be taken to refer\neither to the fifteenth degree of the _sign_, or of the _constellation_\n\u201cdu Verseau\u201d (Aquarius).\n\nThe Siou Hiu is situated, as stated above, in the _constellation_\nAquarius (see diagram), but astronomers reading P. de Mailla\u2019s\ntranslation have understood the phrase in its technical sense, and have\ntherefore been led to believe that the Emperor Tchuen-Hio fixed the\nbeginning of the Chinese year to the 15\u00b0 of the _sign_ Aquarius; and\nas, astronomically and technically speaking, the 15\u00b0 Aquarius (sign)\nhas no reference to any star or constellation, but is only that point\nof the ecliptic to which the sun attains exactly at the mid-season\nbetween winter solstice and spring equinox, they have taken for granted\nthat 2,500 B.C. the Chinese year began at that point, and therefore at\nthe same season as it does at the present time.\n\nBut as we now learn on the high authority of Professor Legge that it\nwas to the _star group Hiu_ that Tchuen-Hio is recorded to have bound\nthe beginning of the year, we know that if the record is true, the year\nin Tchuen-Hio\u2019s time must have begun at the _winter solstice_, and not\nat the _mid-season_, between it and the equinox.\n\nWhen due correction of P. de Mailla\u2019s paraphrase has been made in the\npassage recording Tchuen-Hio\u2019s reform, there remains still a difficulty\nto be overcome in the account of this event given in the _Histoire\nG\u00e9n\u00e9rale de la Chine_, or rather I should say that it is when we have\ncorrected P. de Mailla\u2019s paraphrase that this difficulty appears.\nFor in the history it is stated that it was from the new moon at the\nbeginning of spring, and near to the star group Hiu, that the year\nwas then and henceforth to be counted, and this statement contains an\nastronomical contradiction. Our knowledge of the precession of the\nequinoxes teaches us that the star group Hiu in Tchuen-Hio\u2019s time did\nnot mark the _beginning of spring_, but rather the very _middle of\nwinter_. Unless, then, we throw aside as worthless the whole record of\nTchuen-Hio\u2019s reform of the calendar, we are driven to suppose that some\nChinese historian, ignorant of the precession of the equinoxes, and\nwriting at a date when, owing to that precession, the first new moon of\nspring was indeed close to the star group Hiu, and that of the winter\nsolstice far distant from it--that this historian made what he may well\nhave considered a necessary correction in the record with which he was\ndealing, and substituted the \u201cfirst day of spring\u201d for the \u201cmid-winter\nseason.\u201d Nor need we much blame him for making such a correction,\nwhen we find ourselves driven by stress of modern enlightenment to\ncorrect his correction, and to read \u201cmid-winter\u201d where he has written\n\u201cbeginning of spring.\u201d\n\nLet us now read with due corrections, between square brackets, the\nrecord of Tchuen-Hio\u2019s reformation of the calendar as given in the\n_Histoire G\u00e9n\u00e9rale de la Chine_.\n\n\u201cTchuen-Hio ... profitant de la paix dont jouissoit l\u2019empire, transf\u00e9ra\nsa cour \u00e0 Kao-yang. Ce fut dans cette ville, que toujours passionn\u00e9\npour la connoissance des astres, il \u00e9tablit une esp\u00e8ce d\u2019acad\u00e9mie,\ncompos\u00e9e des Lettr\u00e9s les plus habiles en cette science. On recueillit\ntoutes les observations anciennes qu\u2019on compara avec les modernes, et\non poussa l\u2019astronomie \u00e0 un degr\u00e9 de perfection surprenant. Les r\u00e8gles\ns\u00fbres qu\u2019ils \u00e9tablirent pour supputer les mouvements du soleil, de\nla lune, des planettes, et des \u00e9toiles fixes, acquirent \u00e0 Tchuen-Hio\nle titre glorieux de restaurateur, et m\u00eame de fondateur de la vraie\nastronomie. C\u2019est une perte que ces r\u00e8gles ne soient pas venues jusqu\u2019\u00e0\nnous.\n\n\u201cApr\u00e8s plusieurs ann\u00e9es de travail, Tchuen-Hio d\u00e9termina qu\u2019\u00e0 l\u2019avenir\nl\u2019ann\u00e9e commenceroit \u00e0 la lune la plus proche du premier jour du\nprintems [proche du solstice d\u2019hiver] qui vient vers le 15\u00b0 du\n_Verseau_; [vers le Siou Hiu] et comme il savoit par le calcul qu\u2019il en\navoit fait, que dans une des ann\u00e9es de son r\u00e8gne les planettes devoient\nse joindre dans la constellation _Che_ (constellation qui occupe 17\u00b0\ndans le ciel, dont le milieu est vers le 6\u00b0 des _Poissons_) il choisit\ncette ann\u00e9e-l\u00e0 pour la premi\u00e8re de son calendrier, d\u2019autant plus que\ncette m\u00eame ann\u00e9e le soleil et la lune se trouvoient en conjonction, le\npremier jour du printems [le jour du solstice d\u2019hiver].\u201d[102]\n\n  [102] Vol. I. p. 33.\n\nIt may, of course, be objected to the proposed correction of the\n_season_ in this passage as follows: granting that either the star mark\nHiu, or the _spring season_ said to have been chosen by Tchuen-Hio,\nmust have been erroneously recorded in the _Histoire G\u00e9n\u00e9rale_, the\nprobabilities are equal as to which element in the statement is or is\nnot true. Tchuen-Hio may have chosen the moon nearest to the first day\nof spring, and may have named some constellation other than Hiu near to\nwhich this first moon was in conjunction with the sun. The late Chinese\nhistorian, instead of tampering as above supposed with the recorded\n_season_, may have substituted the name of the star group Hiu, which\nat his date marked the beginning of spring, for that \u201cother\u201d chosen by\nTchuen-Hio.\n\nBut the probabilities on this point are in reality not equally\nbalanced. For, in the first instance, we must take into consideration\nthe very general opinion that the year in China anciently began at the\nwinter solstice, and the fact that this season was in Tchuen-Hio\u2019s\ntime so accurately marked by the junction of the star groups Wei and\nHiu (see diagram), and we must further take into consideration the\nmany references to the star group Hiu in ancient Chinese literature,\nwhich connect it very specially with traditions concerning the Emperor\nTchuen-Hio. Many passages in the works of the P\u00e8re Gaubil are to be\nmet with to this effect, as for instance where he thus quotes and\ncomments on a statement in the Eul-ya. \u201cOn d\u00e9signe _Hiuen-hiao_ par la\nConstellation Hui (_sic_); on appelle encore ce Signe _Tchouen-Hio_.\u201d\nGaubil adds, \u201cLe Signe Hiuen-Hiao est celui que nous appelons Amphora.\nLe dictionnaire [Eul-ya] met dans ce Signe la Constellation _Hiu_;\nc\u2019est-\u00e0-dire que le Signe commen\u00e7oit par quelque degr\u00e9 de cette\nConstellation. L\u2019Histoire Chinoise asseure que l\u2019eau est le symbole\ndu r\u00e9gne de Tchouen-Hiu (_sic_). L\u2019Eul-ya dit formellement que\nHiuen-hiao Signe Celeste du Zodiaque d\u00e9signe l\u2019Empereur _Tchouen-Hiu_\n(_sic_).\u201d[103] Schlegel also tells us that the Chinese placed the soul\nof Tchuen-Hio in the constellation Hiu.\n\n  [103] _Observations Math\u00e9matiques, Astronomiques_, &c., redig\u00e9es et\n  publi\u00e9es par le P. \u00c9tienne Souciet, tome iii. pp. 31-33.\n\nBut not only is Hiu in Chinese literature closely associated with the\nEmperor Tchuen-Hio: it is also closely bracketed with the season of the\nwinter solstice. Schlegel gives many quotations to this effect from\nChinese authorities, but he would refer all such allusions to the far\nback time between 14,000 and 13,000 B.C., when Hiu was in opposition to\nthe sun at that season, not in conjunction with it as at Tchuen-Hio\u2019s\ndate.\n\nOf Hiu he writes:--\n\n  _Hiu, ou Tertre fun\u00e9raire._[104]\n\n  \u201cC\u2019est cet ast\u00e9risme dont la culmination \u00e0 l\u2019heure _tsze_ (11^{h} de\n  la nuit) annon\u00e7ait le solstice d\u2019hiver.... \u2018Au solstice d\u2019hiver,\u2019\n  dit le M\u00e9moire sur la divination par la tortue, \u2018la course du soleil\n  et des astres n\u2019est pas encore compl\u00e8te, et ils sont cons\u00e9quemment\n  d\u00e9laiss\u00e9s comme des orphelins (_Kou_) et vides (_Hiu_).\u2019 Le solstice\n  d\u2019hiver \u00e9tait donc consid\u00e9r\u00e9 par les Chinois comme la position d\u2019un\n  \u2018orphelin au tombeau de ses parents.\u2019 ... Le p\u00e8re No\u00ebl \u00e0 traduit\n  (_Hiu_) par Vacuum, Vide; mais nous pr\u00e9f\u00e9rons traduire lit\u00e9ralement\n  par Tertre fun\u00e9raire.\u201d[105]\n\n  [104] _Uranographie Chinoise_, p. 214.\n\n  [105] _Ibid._ p. 217.\n\nTaking these various passages into consideration, we are, I think, led\nto feel that the probabilities in favour of Tchuen-Hio having chosen\nthe star group Hiu to mark, in conjunction with the sun, the winter\nsolstice, are greater than those in favour of a comparatively modern\nchoice of that star group as a mark for the beginning of spring.\n\nReading the passage of the _Histoire G\u00e9n\u00e9rale_ as corrected above,\nwe may assume that Tchuen-Hio intended to establish sure rules by\nwhich the Chinese were for the future to count their years from the\n_solstice_, and from the conjunction of sun and moon close to the star\ngroup Hiu. But we also know that the following of these sure rules was\nan impossibility. Either the season or the star mark must in the long\ncourse of ages have been abandoned. It would be a difficult, perhaps an\nimpossible, task to ascertain how far, or in what manner, the attempt\nwas made under successive dynasties to carry out the injunctions of\nTchuen-Hio. We read in the _Confucian Analects_ that in answer to his\n\u201cdisciple,\u201d who had asked him, \u201chow the government of a country should\nbe administered,\u201d the Master said--as the first of five rules--\u201cFollow\nthe seasons of Hsi\u00e2.\u201d And in his note on this text the commentator\nsays, \u201cConfucius approved the rule of the Hsi\u00e2 dynasty. His decision\nhas been the law of all the dynasties since the Ch\u2019in.\u201d[106] During\nall the centuries in which the Hea or Hsi\u00e2 dynasty held sway, _i.e._,\nfrom 2205 to 1766 B.C., the sure rules of Tchuen-Hio might have been\ncarried out without much difficulty, for at the _new moon nearest to\nthe winter solstice_ the sun would still have been in or _near to the\nconstellation Hiu_ (see diagram), though at the date of Confucius,\n551-479 B.C., this was no longer the case. Judging from the final\nresult, we may, I think, take it for granted that the Chinese followed\nthe _star mark_ and not the _season_ appointed for the beginning of the\nyear by Tchuen-Hio. And thus following the star mark, the beginning of\ntheir year imperceptibly receded from the solstice, and approached the\nspring equinox, so that in 1600 A.D. the Jesuit fathers found the year\nstill beginning at the new moon, \u201cvers le Siou Hiu,\u201d _and hence at the\nseason midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox._\n\n  [106] Legge, _Chinese Classics_, vol. i., _Confucian Analects_, book\n  xv., ch. x.\n\nIn a former Paper contributed to these _Proceedings_,[107] I suggested\nthat in the inscription engraved on Gudea\u2019s diorite statue we had\nevidence of a reform of the already existing Accadian calendar--in use\nfrom a date much earlier than Gudea\u2019s in the neighbouring Babylonian\nkingdom.\n\n  [107] February 1896, V. p. 54.\n\nGudea\u2019s date is placed by scholars at about 2800 B.C.--not much earlier\nthan at that claimed in the Chinese History for Tchuen-Hio.\n\nMuch honour is given by this priestly ruler of Lagash \u201cto Ningirsu, and\nto the goddess Bau, his beloved consort,\u201d and the concluding lines of\nthe inscription run as follows:--\n\n\u201cOn the day of the beginning of the year, the day of the festival of\nBau, on which offerings were made: one calf, one fat sheep, three\nlambs, six full grown sheep, two rams, seven _pat_ of dates, seven\n_sab_ of cream, seven palm buds.\n\n\u201cSuch were the offerings made to the goddess Bau, in the ancient temple\non that day.\u201d\n\nThe generally received opinion as to Ningirsu (Ninib) is, that he was\nthe god of the \u201csouthern sun\u201d; and, as I contended in my Paper, the\n_southern sun_, if we think of the sun in its _yearly_, not merely in\nits daily course, may fitly represent the sun of the winter solstice,\nwhile the goddess Bau = Gula is the goddess by whose very name the\nconstellation Aquarius, as we may assume, was designated in the\nAccadian astrological texts.\n\nIf from Gudea\u2019s inscription concerning the new year\u2019s festival a reform\nin the calendar of Lagash may be inferred, by which the beginning of\nthe year was transferred from the stars of Aries to those of Aquarius,\nwe should find that the Lagash inscription, and the great History of\nChina, tell us the same story--the Lagash inscription supplementing\nthe Chinese History in this important point--that whereas the account\nof Tchuen-Hio\u2019s reform has been manifestly more or less garbled in its\nlong descent through human hands: that of Gudea\u2019s new year\u2019s festival\nis a contemporaneous and utterly untampered-with account. It is also\nof some moment to note one curious point of resemblance in the idea\nconnected with the stars of Aquarius, by the astronomers of countries\nso far distant from each other as China and Mesopotamia. Hiu, as we\nhave learnt, may be translated as \u201cVacuum,\u201d and the name of the\ngoddess Bau or Bahu bears the same signification as the Hebrew word\ntranslated in Genesis i. 2 by \u201cvoid.\u201d[108]\n\n  [108] Sayce, _Transactions of the Society of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology_,\n  February 1874.\n\nIf we now accept Tchuen-Hio\u2019s reformation as a re-adjustment of a\npreviously-existing sidereal and originally solstitial calendar, we\nare at once given the clue to the two so similar Hindu and Chinese\ntraditions quoted above, concerning the initial point of their\nLunar Zodiacs: and we shall recognise that Kio--containing the star\nSpica--_in opposition to_, and the first degrees of Aswin\u012b, _in\nconjunction with_, the sun, obtained the posts of leaders of the lunar\nseries for the same reason--namely, _that they marked the beginning of\nthe year at the winter solstice_ 6000 B.C.\n\nTo this same cause I have here, and elsewhere, attributed the fact that\nin the Accadian calendar the stars of Aries held the same position, and\nmarked the _first_ month of the year, as the month of the \u201csacrifice of\nrighteousness.\u201d\n\nIn thus tracing back the history of the calendars of the ancient\nnations of the East, in observing the identity of their earliest\nastronomical traditions, and noting the curious points of contact\nand divergence in their later scientific and mythological ideas, the\nimpression seems to force itself upon us more and more definitely,\nthat before the races of mankind were \u201cscattered abroad upon the face\nof the whole earth,\u201d their ancestors were capable of great scientific\nachievements, and possessed in common high intellectual aspirations.\n\nWe in these later days, so picturing to ourselves the past, may be\nfreshly struck by the words of the ancient history, which tell us of\nthe time when \u201cthe whole earth was of one language and of one speech.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nPART II\n\nPLATES.\n\n\n\n\nPART II.\n\n\nPLATES XV., XVI., XVII., AND XVIII.\n\nIn the foregoing pages arguments have been urged in support of the\nview that the ecliptic circle, at the remote date (speaking in round\nnumbers) of 6000 B.C., had been portioned by some \u201cancient race of men\u201d\ninto twelve divisions; and that the twelve constellational figures of\nthe Zodiac had then also been imagined under forms more or less closely\nresembling those which we recognize in the heavens at the present day.\n\nMost of the arguments in favour of this opinion are necessarily based\non considerations connected with the phenomena of the heavens, effected\nin the long course of ages by a slow revolution of the earth\u2019s axis.\nAstronomers during the last two thousand years have carefully observed\nthe effects and studied the causes of this slow terrestrial movement,\nand they can now tell us with confidence and exactness that the\nspace of 25,868 years is required for the accomplishment of one such\nrevolution of the earth\u2019s axis.\n\nIn our enquiry into the astronomy of the ancients we need not at all\nturn our minds to the difficult subject of the causes, or indeed even\nto the fact, of this slow movement of the earth\u2019s axis, further than\nto realize fully that its effects have been to produce a slow but\ncontinuous change in the apparent position of the fixed stars, a change\nnot in their position relatively to each other, but in their distances\nfrom the heavenly equator and its poles.\n\nThe effort to fully realize these effects by means of careful\ncalculations and measurements must prove to any but an astronomer a\nmost arduous task; but, by aid of the mechanical contrivance called\na \u201cprecessional globe,\u201d much of the difficulty of the task may be\novercome. The accompanying diagrams have been drawn from a precessional\nglobe, which can be adjusted so as to show the position of the poles\nand equator amongst the fixed stars, at dates distant from each other\nby intervals of 538 years.[109]\n\n  [109] 1800 A.D. is the date to which the globe in question originally\n  refers; the intervals of 538 years can be reckoned backwards or\n  forwards from this date.\n\nI have shown in continuous outline those constellations for whose first\nimagining it seemed to me as early a date might be claimed as that\nreferred to in each diagram; all others are given in dotted outline.\nThe strange figures of the \u201cancient constellations\u201d are here drawn\nas they are represented on the globe; but the fixed stars which mark\nthese figures for observers of the heavens, I have not ventured to\nindicate, as to do so would have required great accuracy of drawing\nand measurement. It is not for a moment to be contended that all the\nancient constellations were imagined _exactly_ under the forms by which\nwe have learnt to know them from classic representations, from the poem\nof Aratos, and from the star list of Ptolemy. Variants of many of the\nfigures are to be met with in astronomical atlases and on the celestial\nglobes in use to-day; and to establish the relative claims concerning\nthe antiquity of these variant forms is a branch to itself of research.\n\nThat these constellations have indeed been well denominated \u201cancient\u201d\nis scarcely to be denied, and our only wonder, when studying the\nsubject, must be, not that some differences are to be met with as\nto the exact form under which, at different dates and by different\nnations, these figures were delineated in the heavens, but rather the\nwonder must be that (as arch\u00e6ological research is always more and more\nclearly establishing) through many thousands of years, and by nations\nlong and widely separated, the stars, which to an unaccustomed observer\nseem to be scattered in wild and random profusion on the sky, should\nhave been divided into the same distinct groups, and thought of as\nrepresenting the same mysterious beings.\n\nBut though it may be impossible to maintain that the Grecians have\nhanded down to us in an absolutely unchanged form the figures of the\nancient constellations as they were first imagined in remote ages, yet\nmany proofs may be cited in favour of the opinion, that not lightly\nor arbitrarily did astronomical artists venture to tamper with the\nZodiacal and extra-Zodiacal figures.\n\nSome of these proofs have already been pointed out in the foregoing\nPapers. Attention will be drawn to others in the consideration of the\ndiagrams here given.\n\nIn Plates XV., XVI., XVII., and XVIII., the positions of the solstitial\nand equinoctial colures amongst the constellations are given at the\ndate 5744 B.C. Had it been possible, I should have liked to have drawn\nthese diagrams as at 6000 B.C.--not only because it is easier to deal\nwith and to remember a round number such as that, but also because at\nthat date the solstitial colure passed through the ecliptic only one\ndegree distant from the initial point of the Indian Zodiac--a point\nwhich there seems good reason to believe was the initial point of many,\nother than Indian, ancient Zodiacs.\n\nOwing to the mechanical restrictions of the precessional globe, it was\nnot possible to adjust it to any more accurate date than that of 5744\nB.C.\n\nIt will not be necessary here to reiterate the considerations in favour\nof the opinion already advanced that the calendrical importance of the\nconstellation Aries in some nations, and its symbolical importance in\nthe mythology of others, may best be explained by the supposition that\nthe choice of this constellation as \u201cPrince and Leader\u201d of the signs\nwas made _not_ when its stars marked the spring equinox, but when they\nmarked the winter solstice.\n\nLet us rather take this opinion as a working hypothesis, and turn\nour attention to the importance, in ancient symbolism, of the _four_\nconstellations--Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricornus--which, according\nto this hypothesis, marked the _four_ seasons, and the cardinal points\n6000 B.C.\n\nNext in this order to Aries comes Cancer, _The Crab_ (see Plate XVI.).\nIn Babylonia, it seems to be established that a _tortoise_, not a crab,\nrepresented the fourth constellation of the Zodiac. In Egypt, as we\nlearn from the Zodiacs of Esneh and Denderah, it was the _scarab\u00e6us_\nbeetle that held the place given to the crab in the Grecian sphere.\n\nThere is a sort of outward resemblance between these three creatures,\nwide apart as they are anatomically from each other. They are all\nhard-shelled, creeping, and insignificant-looking animals. Why under\nany of these three forms a constellation of the Zodiac should have been\ndepicted, it is difficult to conjecture; but if we have to admit that\nin Egyptian astronomy the beetle played the important part of marking\nas a constellation one of the quarters of the ecliptic circle, this\nadmission will furnish us with an adequate reason for the extraordinary\nhonour paid in Egyptian symbolic art to this lowly, and in itself\nunattractive, insect.\n\nThe scarab\u00e6us, according to our hypothesis, marked in ancient\ncalendrical tradition the spring equinox when in _conjunction_ with\nthe sun, and the autumn equinox in _opposition_ to it. And it was as\npresiding _visibly in opposition_ that we may reasonably suppose it\ngained such honour in Egypt. For the autumn, not the spring, is in\nthat land the time when vegetation begins to burst into life, and when\nall Egypt rejoices. I think, moreover, that facts connected with the\nworship of the Apis Bull will further strengthen the opinion that the\nEgyptians considered the constellations in _opposition_ to the sun to\nbe those which presided over particular seasons and months.[110]\n\n  [110] See below, pp. 234, 235.\n\nTo trace allusions in the symbolic art of Egypt to Libra--the\nthird in order of the constellations we are now discussing (see\nPlate XVII.)--is, it must be confessed, not so simple a matter,\nand it is with some diffidence that I put forward the following\nsuggestion--_i.e._, that we may perhaps find in the \u201ctwo feathers,\u201d so\nprominent in Egyptian mythologic imagery, a reference to the two scales\nof the Balance (Libra).\n\n[Illustration: The Did\u00fb dressed.]\n\nIn allegorical language _we_ speak often of the even scales of Justice,\nand in art the goddess is always represented with the Balance in\nher hand. In Egyptian symbolism and art, I think the two feathers\nrepresented the equal weights of the scales of Justice. In the great\njudgment hall of Osiris, the souls of men were weighed in the balance.\nThe soul, or heart, of the dead Egyptian was placed in one scale, while\na feather--or the figure of the goddess Mait, wearing on her head a\nsingle plume or feather--occupied the other. Mait was the goddess of\nJustice, and we often read also of \u201cthe two Maits who preside over\nJustice and Truth.\u201d\n\nThere is a woodcut in Prof. Maspero\u2019s _Dawn of Civilization_, p. 130,\nin which the head-dress--the symbolic head-dress--so often to be met\nwith in Egyptian mythologic representations, is very clearly drawn. It\nwas in studying this woodcut that the idea first suggested itself to\nmy mind, that in this head-dress we may find a reference to the four\nconstellations which, when the Zodiac was first imagined, marked the\nfour colures--the four quarters of the heavens--that it was in fact an\nastronomic monogram, combining four figures in one.\n\nIn this head-dress very plainly are to be seen the horns of a ram,\nand those of a goat. Less convincingly, perhaps, the disc from which\nspring the goat\u2019s horns suggests \u201cthe disc enclosing a scarab\u00e6us,\u201d[111]\nunder which form the sun as _Khophri_--\u201cHe who is\u201d[112]--was sometimes\nrepresented by the Egyptians.\n\n  [111] Maspero, p. 139.\n\n  [112] _Ibid._ p. 138.\n\nThe two feathers in outline clearly show themselves, but to connect\nthese two feathers with the scales of Libra is only adventured as a\npossible means of giving an astronomic value to the so often repeated\ncombination of the forms in this head-dress.\n\nAs to Capricornus (the fourth of the constellations which marked\nthe colures 6000 B.C.), (see Plate XVIII.), we do not meet with\nany representations, so far as I know, of a goat-fish on Egyptian\nmonuments, but on Babylonian boundary stones and engraved gems this\nmonster is often to be seen, exactly represented in form and attitude\nas on the Grecian sphere. The goat\u2019s _horns_ are all we find portrayed\nin ancient Egyptian art, and when they are portrayed they appear\ntogether with the _ram\u2019s horns_, and often springing out of a ram\u2019s\nhead. For this curt reference to the goat (Capricornus) a reason may\nbe found by remembering that this constellation, _in opposition_,\npresided--traditionally--over the least honoured season of the Egyptian\nyear--the arid season preceding the inundations.\n\nIt should be borne in mind that all the Egyptian mythologic symbolism\nwe have been considering must necessarily have only embodied traditions\nalready even under the earliest dynasties extremely ancient; for it\nwas, as may be seen in the Plates, about 6000 B.C. that the colures\ntouched the extreme western degrees of the constellations Aries,\nCancer, and Libra--and a point some degrees to the west of Capricornus,\nas it is now drawn. In each succeeding century the colures moved\nstill more to the west, through the stars, and from 6000 down to 4000\nB.C. they were no longer to be observed in the four already named\nconstellations, but in Pisces, Gemini, Virgo, and Sagittarius.\n\nIt is curious to note that there seems to be no pronounced allusion in\nEgyptian art or literature to these four constellations, though there\nare indications (see pp. 230-238) which may lead us to believe that\nthe astronomical phenomena of the later date, 4000 B.C., were closely\nobserved, and seem to have formed the basis of much of the mythology of\nEgypt.\n\nThese facts tend to confirm the conclusion--so often advocated in this\nbook--that the ancestors of the Egyptians, as also of all the great\ncivilized nations of antiquity, followed through many long ages the\nsame sidereal calendar--one based on the observation of the colures\namongst the fixed stars 6000 B.C. And it would seem that not till\nabout 4000 B.C., when the colures had traversed, from east to west,\nthe constellations Pisces, Gemini, Virgo, and Sagittarius, and had\narrived at the eastern degrees of Aquarius, Taurus, Leo, and Scorpio,\ndid astronomic authorities in Egypt direct their attention to a reform\nof the calendar and introduce into it, and into religious observances,\nreferences to these four last-named constellations.\n\nTurning to Plate XVI. we may notice that the equinoctial colure,\nmarking out as it does the extreme western limits of the constellation\nCancer, passes also through a part of the constellation Gemini. This\nfact may, I think, help to explain some of the legends connected with\nthe twins Castor and Pollux in ancient lore.\n\nA very brilliant star glitters on the head of each twin. These stars\nare of almost equal lustre and well deserve the name of twin stars; and\nso we can easily suppose how it was that the imaginative astronomers\nwho, at the early date in question, mapped out the figures of the\nZodiac, noticing that the equinoctial colure passed between these two\nbright stars, should have elected to represent them as marking the\nheads of twin figures, which they determined should symbolize the\n_equal day and night_ of the season over which they presided.\n\nThese two stars, thousands of years after they had ceased to mark\nthe equinox, were still associated by the Greeks with the twin\nheroes--Castor and Pollux--brothers who, according to the legend, were\n\u201cpossessed of an immortality of existence so divided among them, that\nas one dies, the other revives.\u201d The learned Dr Barrett has pointed out\nthat \u201cthis furnishes a complete description of Day and Night.\u201d This\nremark of Dr Barrett\u2019s becomes especially interesting if we attribute\nthe first symbolizing of day and night by these stars to the work of\nastronomers at a date when the day and night these stars symbolized\nwere of exactly equal length, and when, therefore, the equal stars and\nequal alternation of light and darkness might both be fitly symbolized\nas twins.\n\nAt Plate XVIII. it is to be observed that the equinoctial colure,\ninstead of adjoining Capricornus, occupies an almost central position\nin the preceding constellation, Sagittarius. This fact, together with\nother considerations, has led me to think that originally only the\nbow and arrow of Sagittarius were imagined for that division of the\necliptic; and that the huge composite figure of the archer--half man\nand half horse--was added to the original design in later ages, by\nastronomers who chose the spring equinox instead of the winter solstice\nfor the beginning of the year.\n\nIn discussing the Median calendar, the importance which seems to\nhave been given by the ancestors of the Medes to the constellation\nSagittarius, at a date when it marked the spring equinox, was dwelt\nupon. It will, I think, appear likely, when we come to study Plates\nXIX. and XX., that as early as 4600 B.C. constellations were imagined\nto honour and mark the equinoctial as well as the solstitial seasons.\n\nPerhaps then, at that date the constellation Sagittarius was extended\nto its present dimensions; and it may be that some centuries later,\nwhen the colure of the _winter solstice_ had passed into the\nconstellation Aquarius, some astronomers desired--like Gudea of Lagash\nand Tchuen-Hio in China--to honour that season, and to make it the\nbeginning of the year. It may be that such astronomers dealt with the\neleventh constellation of the Zodiac, as earlier ones had dealt with\nSagittarius, and that they added to what was possibly originally only a\n_water jar_, Amphora, the figure of the _water pourer_ Aquarius.\n\nThese ideas are put forward very speculatively. They were partly\nsuggested by noticing that in the Indian Zodiac the name of the\nconstellation Sagittarius is merely Dhanus (arrow), and the name of\nAquarius is Kumbha (water jar).\n\nIn the diagrams which we have been discussing, it will be observed that\nonly the twelve figures of the Zodiac, and _two_ of the extra-Zodiacal\nconstellations, are given in continuous outline, one of these two is\nDraco--the dragon or serpent whose folds surround the _Pole of the\nEcliptic_--the central point of the circle of the Zodiac.\n\nThat the astronomers who traced out the circle of the Zodiac on\nthe heavens, and imagined its twelve strange figures, should also\nhave devoted attention to, and marked out, its central point, is\nnot improbable. The _Pole of the Ecliptic_, unlike the _Pole of the\nHeavens_, is immoveable amongst the fixed stars. At 6000 B.C., as at\nthe present date, the stars of Draco surrounded this point--a point not\nitself marked by any conspicuous star. We have not, however, I think,\nat present sufficient grounds for deciding at what exact date the\nconstellation Draco was imagined under the form it now holds. But that\nit is very ancient there is no doubt.\n\nFor the first depicting on the vault of heaven of the figure of Bootes,\nI claim with much stronger conviction the date of 6000 B.C., and the\nlatitude of 45\u00b0 north. For then and there Bootes might be seen at\nmidnight of the summer solstice, standing upright on the northern\nhorizon, his head reaching nearly to the Pole of the Heavens. Never\nsince that date has he held so commanding a position in the sky, nor at\nany more southern latitude could his whole figure have been represented\nas standing on the horizon.\n\nOne further suggestion as to this constellation I am tempted to make.\nNot, it is true, on the same firm astronomical grounds as those put\nforward for the date of the first imagining of the figure, but a\nsuggestion based on the Greek name of the constellation.\n\nThe name Bootes has been translated as ox-driver, and of him Aratos\nsays:--\n\n    \u201cThe _Bear-ward_, whom mankind the _Ploughman_ call,\n    Because he seems to touch the wain-like _Bear_.\u201d[113]\n\n  [113] _The Phainomena or \u201cHeavenly Display\u201d of Aratos, done into\n  English verse_ by Robert Brown, Jun., F.S.A., line 92.\n\nThe seven bright stars which mark the tail and part of the body of\nthe Great Bear are often spoken of as \u201cthe Plough,\u201d and in the large\nremaining space allotted on the sphere to the constellation Ursa Major,\nit would not be difficult to include oxen harnessed to the brightly\nmarked celestial plough.\n\nI have said that at midnight of the summer solstice the constellation\nBootes--if we suppose it to have been imagined at 6000 B.C.--presided\nvisibly over the northern sky. But we have learnt from the month\nnames in the Accadian calendar that the astronomers who instituted\nit always directed attention to the constellations which _invisibly_\naccompanied the sun in his daily journeyings from east to west, rather\nthan to those which (in opposition) were visible through the hours\nof the night. For example--all through the mid-winter month of the\nsacrifice of righteousness, the stars of the Ram--the celestial symbol\nof that sacrifice--were invisible, hidden in the overpowering light\nof the sun. In like manner, I think, we may assume that at the close\nof the Accadian year--in the \u201cmonth of the sowing of seed\u201d or in \u201cthe\ndark month of sowing,\u201d when mortal husbandmen were following on earth\ntheir ox-drawn ploughs, Bootes, the ox-driver, though invisible to the\nbodily eye, appeared to the mental vision of the astronomer, following\nunweariedly the ox-drawn plough in the sky.\n\nThe various suppositions here put forward will lead those who accept\nthem as probably correct, to picture to themselves the existence, at\nthe early date of 6000 B.C., in latitude 45\u00b0 N., of a race of men--not\nsavages, and not merely pastoral nomads--but a race of agriculturists\nwho tilled the ground and reaped its fruits--a race possessed of high\nintellectual power--who respected law and justice, and whose religion\ntaught them to offer to their god \u201csacrifices of righteousness.\u201d\n\n\nPLATES XIX. AND XX.\n\nIn Plate XIX., fig. 1, it is the constellation known in the Grecian\nsphere as Hercules that claims our attention. At the date and latitude\nabove named, this constellation, if then it had already been imagined,\nculminated gloriously on the northern meridian at midnight of the\nspring equinox. The head of the hero, or demi-god, touched the very\nzenith, and with his club brandished aloft he must have seemed well\nfitted to triumph over, not only the dragon coiled beneath his feet,\nbut over every opposing power.\n\nAs was said at p. 223 about Bootes, 6000 B.C., so it may here be\nrepeated of Hercules, 4667 B.C., \u201cnever since that date has he held so\ncommanding a position in the sky.\u201d\n\nAt the present date of writing, and in our English latitudes, Hercules\n\u201cwill ever rise reversed,\u201d[114] and through the summer and autumn\nmonths his kneeling figure is always to be seen hanging head downwards\nin the southern quarter of the sky.\n\n  [114] _The Phainomena or \u201cHeavenly Display\u201d of Aratos, done into\n  English verse_ by Robert Brown, Jun., F.S.A., line 669.\n\nGrecian writers, some centuries B.C., were already puzzled to account\nfor this \u201c_reversed_\u201d position of \u201cthe Kneeler.\u201d Aratos, from whom I\nhave quoted above, thus further wonders as to this constellation. At\nline 63 we read:--\n\n    \u201c... like a toiling man, revolves\n    A form. Of it can no one clearly speak,\n    Nor to what toil he is attached; but, simply,\n    _Kneeler_ they call him. Labouring on his knees,\n    Like one who sinks he seems;\u201d\n\nand again at line 614--\n\n    \u201cThe _Kneeler_ ...\n    He who is ne\u2019er far distant from the _Lyre_,\n    Whoe\u2019er this stranger of the heavenly forms\n    May be.\u201d[115]\n\n  [115] _The Phainomena or \u201cHeavenly Display\u201d of Aratos, done into\n  English verse_ by Robert Brown, Jun., F.S.A., line 669.\n\n4600 B.C. no such difficult speculations could have presented\nthemselves to the minds of those who, in the joyous springtime of\nthe year, beheld in imagination, night after night, the grand and\nconquering figure of this god or hero, typifying for them, as we may\neasily suppose, the ever-increasing triumph at that season of the power\nof light over darkness.\n\nPlate XIX., fig. 2. It was perhaps at this same date that the cluster\nof stars \u201cled round in circle\u201d[116] close to the bow of Sagittarius,\nand exactly marking the equinoctial colure, was figured as a\n_crown_, and that so depicted, as I have contended at page 76, this\nconstellation suggested the symbolic circle, crown, or wreath which\nsometimes takes the place of the bow in Assur\u2019s hand, and which almost\nalways is present in the hand of Ahura Mazda in Median representations\nof that figure.\n\n  [116] _The Phainomena or \u201cHeavenly Display\u201d of Aratos, done into\n  English verse_ by Robert Brown, Jun., F.S.A., line 401.\n\nAt Plate XX., fig. 1, I have drawn the constellation Hydra as it would\nhave appeared at the date 4667 B.C. At pages 117, 118, the reasons\nwhich led me to suppose that this constellation was then first imagined\nhave been given.\n\nAt Plate XX., fig. 2, it may be seen how 4667 B.C. the figure of\nOrion very accurately marked the equinoctial colure, and this fact\nmay incline us to suppose that the giant hunter--so often, according\nto Grecian legend, in conflict with the powers of high Heaven--was\ndepicted about this date by ancient astronomers to represent the\nstrength of the adverse powers which, at the _autumnal_ season in the\nmythologies of northern nations, appear in combat with, and temporarily\ntriumphant over, the powers of light.\n\nIn favour of the high date here claimed for the imagining of Orion\u2019s\nfigure under very much the same form as that still depicted on our\nglobes, there are some indications to be observed in the Sanscrit names\nof the Nakshatra, which contains the stars, \u03bb \u03c6\u2081 \u03c6\u2082 Orionis--_i.e._,\nthe stars marking the head of Orion.\n\nThis Nakshatra is known in Hindu astronomy under two quite different\nnames--viz., M\u1e5bigashirsha and Agrahayani. The Sanscrit word,\nM\u1e5bigashirsha, means literally \u201cWild beast\u2019s head,\u201d and B. G. Tilak,\nin his work, _The Orion; or, Researches into the Antiquity of the\nVedas_, basing his opinion upon many ingenious and recondite arguments,\nsupposes that ancient Indian astronomers gave the name of M\u1e5bigashiras\nto the stars of Orion, which they imagined portrayed in the sky an\n\u201cAntelope\u2019s head\u201d transfixed by an arrow--the arrow being marked by the\nthree bright stars so well known to us as Orion\u2019s Belt.\n\nM\u1e5biga, there can be no doubt, carries often with it in Sanscrit\nliterature the meaning of \u201cantelope\u201d: but Tilak expressly says at p.\n97, \u201cThough I have translated the word _M\u1e5bigashiras_ by \u2018Antelope\u2019s\nhead,\u2019 I do not mean to imply that _M\u1e5biga_ necessarily meant \u2018an\nantelope\u2019 in the Vedic literature.\u201d Again, at p. 151, he says: \u201cThe\nword _M\u1e5biga_ in the Rigveda, means according to S\u00e2ya\u1e47a both a lion and\na deer.\u201d\n\nAgain, as to the other name of the Nakshatra--Agrahayani--it has\nthe meaning of \u201cfirst-going\u201d (of the sun) understood. In a long\ndissertation on this name, Tilak contends that it marked an important\npoint in the annual course of the sun, and then further seeks to derive\nthe Greek name Orion from the Sanscrit word, Agrahayani. Of the value\nof the etymological arguments advanced, I am quite unable to judge, but\non astronomic grounds it would not seem an improbable derivation.\n\nBut the acceptance of Tilak\u2019s contention as to the derivation of the\nname Orion would make it reasonable to suppose that not only the name\nbut also the configuration of the constellation might, in the astronomy\nof the Greek and Indian nations, resemble each other; and thus we\nshould be more ready to believe that M\u1e5bigashirsha referred to the\nlion\u2019s head on Orion\u2019s arm, and not to an \u201cantelope\u2019s head\u201d--a head\nwhich, as depicted by Tilak at p. 100, would alone have filled nearly\nall the space in the heavens occupied in the Grecian sphere by the\nhuge figure of the giant hunter known to us as Orion.\n\nThe indications furnished by these two Sanscrit Nakshatra names, if\nthey are followed, must lead us to attribute the imagining and naming\nof the constellation Orion to a time before that when the ancestors of\nthe Greeks and Indians went their separate ways to the west and to the\neast, and so will strengthen the claim here made for the depicting of\nthe constellation on the sky as early as 4600 B.C.\n\nIt will be noted that in the suggestions here offered concerning\nHercules, Corona Australis, Hydra, and Orion, a change in the symbolic\nmethods followed by earlier astronomers, 6000 B.C., must be supposed.\n\nIt was to the constellations invisibly _accompanying_ the sun that the\noriginators of the Zodiac appear to have directed their attention. But\nthe symbolic figures we have now been studying--there can, it seems to\nme, be little doubt--were designed to mark _visibly_, and, therefore,\nin _opposition_ to the sun, the various seasons of the year.\n\nA great astronomic activity, a sort of astronomic renaissance, in fact,\nseems to manifest itself as we study the celestial globe at 4600 B.C.,\nand to this date I would attribute the origin of the astronomic myths\nof many nations.\n\n\nPLATE XXI.[117]\n\n  [117] The figures in this Plate have been drawn from the globe\n  adjusted to the date, 4128 B.C., Lat. 40\u00b0 N.\n\nIn _The Median Calendar and the Constellation Taurus_ I have put\nforward considerations drawn from Median and Assyrian sources, which\nseemed to me to lead to the conclusion that at about the date 4000 B.C.\nvery close attention was given to the position of the colures amongst\nthe fixed stars, and that at that date very special honour was given\nby the ancestors of the Medes to the constellation Sagittarius--the\nconstellation which at the spring equinox was in opposition to the sun,\nand therefore visible all through the night. I need not here reiterate\nwhat was there advanced on this point concerning Median and Assyrian\nsymbolism, but rather I now desire to draw attention to the existence\nin _Egyptian_ art and mythologic teaching of what I cannot but think is\nvery constant reference to the position of the colures, as they might\nhave been observed--speaking in round numbers--from 4000 down to 2000\nB.C.\n\nIt will be seen at Fig. 4 that the equinoctial colure, at the earlier\nof these dates, touched the confines of the constellation Sagittarius,\nand might even then, with almost equal right, have been claimed as\nadjoining those of Scorpio. We can well imagine that the astronomic\nschool which carried out the reformation in method discussed above\n(pp. 222, 227), which resulted in the imagining of the constellations\nHercules and Corona Australis, and in the extension, as I suggested,\nof the boundaries of Sagittarius--we can well imagine that this school\nwould with reluctance admit the baleful image of Scorpio to take the\npost of leader of the year, so long held by Sagittarius. But from 4000\nB.C. onwards to 2000 B.C. the constellations that did actually mark\nthe equinoctial and solstitial colures, were Taurus, Scorpio, Leo, and\nAquarius.\n\nVolumes of controversy have been written concerning the astronomic\nteachings of the ceilings of the temples of Denderah and Edfu, as to\nthe position of the colures amongst the fixed stars, suggested by the\narrangement of the figures of the Zodiac in both these temples. The\ndate astronomically referred to in these designs was claimed by some\nto be about 4000 B.C., but when it was proved that these temples had\nbeen restored in Ptolemaic times, and the ceilings probably redecorated\nthen, the high claims put forward for the first imagining of these\nastronomic designs could no longer with certainty be upheld. A strong\nreaction in opinion then took place, and it was again and again\nasserted that the Egyptians were probably not even acquainted with the\nso-called Grecian twelve-fold division of the ecliptic till after the\nintroduction of European culture into Egypt. To seek for allusions\nin ancient Egyptian mythology or art to any of the twelve Zodiacal\nconstellations was, therefore, a much discouraged attempt.\n\nBut if the testimony of the ceilings of the Denderah and Edfu temples\nis rendered suspect by their Ptolemaic restoration, the same objection\ncannot be raised against the evidence borne by the ceiling of an\nancient Egyptian building, which has certainly not been restored in\nPtolemaic times. In the _Description de l\u2019\u00c9gypte_,[118] we find a\ncareful drawing of a \u201cTableau astronomique au Plafond de l\u2019un des\ntombeaux des rois.\u201d In the central portion on either side of this\nceiling a monstrous hippopotamus and crocodile are represented,\ntogether with various beings depicted on a much smaller scale. In the\ndrawing here given, of one of these central groups, we find, as it\nseems to me, very clear reference to the four figures--Taurus, Scorpio,\nLeo, and Aquarius (= Amphora).\n\n  [118] _Description de l\u2019\u00c9gypte_, 10 vols., Paris, MDCCCXII.-XXIII.,\n  Vol. I., Antiquit\u00e9s, planche 95.\n\n[Illustration: Portion of Ceiling at Byb\u00e2n-el-Molouk.\n\n[_To face p. 233._]\n\n[Illustration: BULL APIS]\n\nThe monstrous hippopotamus and crocodile here depicted are, I am\nstrongly inclined to believe, representations, not of any particular\nconstellation, but rather of the solstitial and equinoctial colures;\nand the four not at all, except astronomically, related figures of the\nBull, Scorpion, Lion, and Water-jar, are here very clearly in evidence.\n\nIn Egyptian mythology the Apis Bull held a very important place. \u201cIt\nwas regarded as a symbol and incarnation of Osiris, the husband of\nIsis, and next to R\u00e2, the great divinity of Egypt.\u201d Grecian authorities\ntell us that the Apis Bull was black, with some distinctive white\nmarkings; and on its back (or tongue, according to variant accounts)\nthe figure of a scarab\u00e6us was to be observed. From a drawing in Ebers\u2019\n_Egypt_, Vol. I., p. 121, we may, however, gather, as I think I have\nseen it elsewhere stated, that the Apis Bull was marked by _equal_\nareas of black and white. Such equal areas would fitly symbolize the\nequal day and night of the equinoctial season, and the presence of the\nscarab\u00e6us on the back or tongue of the Bull--if the suggestion made\nat p. 218 should prove to be correct--would point to the traditional\nconnexion of that creature with the same equinoctial season.\n\nIt has often been assumed that the golden calf set up and worshipped in\nthe wilderness by the Israelites was a representation of the Apis god\nof Egypt; and that so also were the calves set up by Jeroboam in Bethel\nand in Dan on his return from Egypt. We read in 1 Kings xii. 32, \u201cAnd\nJeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of\nthe month.\u201d ... Ver. 33, \u201cSo he offered upon the altar which he had\nmade in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month\nwhich he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the\nchildren of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.\u201d\n\nNow, from our knowledge of the Babylonian calendar, and its\ncorrespondence with that in use in Palestine, we may conclude that the\n\u201ceighth month\u201d (Marchesvan), devised by Jeroboam, was that during which\nthe sun traversed the constellation Scorpio, and during which Taurus\nwas dominantly visible all night; and when in this constellation the\nfull moon of the fifteenth or festival day was to be observed. This\nmention of the _eighth_ month in connexion with the worship of the\ngolden calves--a worship, as has been supposed, copied from Egyptian\npractice--greatly strengthens the opinion that the Apis Bull was in\nEgypt looked upon as a living representative of the Zodiacal Bull--the\nconstellation which in the time of the early dynasties marked, in\nopposition to the sun, the autumnal equinox.\n\nIn Median mythology and art we have seen the great importance of Tauric\nsymbolism: but there is a wide difference between the Tauric symbolism\nof the Medes and the Egyptians. Mithras, the Median sun-god, again and\nagain triumphs over and slays the Bull. In Egypt, on the contrary,\nthe Sacred Bull is honoured and worshipped during its lifetime, and\nreverently embalmed, and with all pomp and glory buried after its death.\n\nThis difference in the mythologic conceptions of Media and Egypt may be\nattributed, I think, to the difference of climatic conditions in the\ntwo countries.\n\nIn Media, spring--in Egypt, autumn--is the joyous and fruitful season\nof the year. In the early ages, when Median and Egyptian mythologies\ntook their rise, Taurus was at the spring equinox in conjunction with\nthe sun, and was, therefore, slain by its overwhelming brightness; but\nat the autumn equinox that same constellation, _in opposition_, rose\nwhen the sun set, and all night long was visible. In Median art, it is\nthe Bull immolated by the sun in springtime that is represented. In\nEgyptian symbolism, it is to the Bull triumphantly traversing the sky\nby night, in the autumn season, that attention is directed.\n\nIn the light of these astronomic considerations, it is interesting to\nthink of the fanatical act of Cambyses in slaying the Apis Bull, as\none prompted not only by fury at seeing the high honour paid to the\nEgyptian god, but also by an insane pride, which made him desire to\nimitate the triumph of Mithras--the Persian sun-god--over the Bull in\nthe heavens, by killing its earthly representative, the Apis Bull.\n\nIn the days of Cambyses, when Apis worship prevailed in Egypt, and\neven still earlier when the children of Israel, in imitation of this\nworship, set up the golden calf in the wilderness, the _raison d\u2019\u00eatre_\nfor the honour paid to Taurus as a star mark of the autumnal season\nno longer existed; for we know that about 1800 B.C., the equinoctial\ncolure had left that constellation, and had entered the eastern degrees\nof the constellation Aries. Egyptian history assures us, however,\nthat the institution of the Apis worship was effected by some king\nof the first dynasty in the far back ages when Taurus, Scorpio, Leo,\nand Aquarius did actually preside over the four seasons of the year.\nMoreover, the recent discoveries of the tombs of kings and other\npersonages, in the first Egyptian dynasty, lead us back to the remote\ndate of 4000 B.C., when the very earliest observations of the colures\nin the four above-named constellations could have been made.\n\nIn these ancient tombs, amongst other objects, have been found slate\nslabs of various shapes--some of them, in their general outline, as it\nappears to me, representing in the flat the form of a jar or vase. In\nthe accompanying cuts, a proposed restoration of the broken-off top\nof one of the slates is given, and is distinguished from the existing\nportion of the slate by being drawn in dotted lines. Both sides of\nthese slabs are covered by finely executed carvings, not incised but\nin relief. The subjects of the reliefs are very varied, but prominent\namongst them, and exactly repeated more than once, is the figure of a\nbull trampling under his feet, and preparing to gore with his horns,\na fallen human foe. Lions are also portrayed in many attitudes, and\non one slate, where in the upper register this triumphing bull is\nrepresented, below it in a crenellated cartouche a lion and an urn\nor jar are to be seen in close proximity to each other. On another\nslate, a scorpion is delineated above a crenellated cartouche; and\nrepresentations of scorpions carved in relief on mace-heads and on\njars, and scorpions carved in the round, have been met with in great\nnumbers in the excavations at Hierakonpolis--the site also of the\ndiscovery of one of the most important of the carved slates here\ndescribed.\n\nIt is difficult, I think, to resist the conclusion that we have in\nthe carvings on these ancient slate objects references not to merely\nterrestrial bulls, lions, scorpions, and water jars, but rather to the\nconstellations, already imagined under those forms, whose stars, at the\ndate when these carvings were made, marked in conjunction with, and in\nopposition to, the sun, the four seasons of the year.[119]\n\n  [119] In the centre of many, if not of all, of the slates under\n  our notice, there is carved on the obverse a ring surrounding a\n  depression. \u201cMr Quibell\u2019s theory, which is still adhered to by\n  Professor Petrie, is that this ring was intended to receive the\n  green paint with which it is supposed the earliest Egyptians painted\n  their faces,\u201d but Mr Legge in his Paper, from which I have here\n  quoted (contributed to the _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical\n  Arch\u00e6ology_, May 1900, pp. 137, 138), puts forward a different\n  view, which, if it is correct, would lend support to the astronomic\n  interpretation above proposed for some of the carved representations.\n  Mr Legge considers that the rings represented the sun, and that\n  \u201cit is quite possible that this significance was heightened by\n  the introduction of some bright substance, such as gold foil.\u201d He\n  points out that the composite monsters of the slates, all of which\n  are represented on certain ivories, which he names, are always\n  associated with the sun-disk. He believes these figures to have a\n  symbolic meaning, though he does not in his Paper claim the especial\n  astronomic interpretations I have above advocated.\n\n[Illustration: Outlines of two carved slates drawn from Plates I. and\nIII. in _The Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology_ for May\n1900.\n\n[_To face p. 236._]\n\n\nPLATE XXII.[120]\n\n  [120] This plate has been drawn from the globe adjusted to the dates\n  and latitudes of 5744 B.C. Lat. 18\u00b0 N., and of 3588 B.C., Lat. 23\u00b0 N.\n\nIn Grecian legend Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, the sea-monster\n(Cetus), and Perseus are associated together, and on the Grecian sphere\nfive neighbouring constellations represent the actors of the legend.\n\nStudying these constellations as they must have appeared to observers\nof the heavens at different dates, we shall, I think, see some reason\nto attribute the imagining of the figure of the hero Perseus to a\nlater age than that of the other members of the group, and, on the\nother hand, there are considerations which may make us hesitate\nwhether we should not place the origin of the constellation Andromeda\nat an even earlier date than those of Cepheus, Cassiopeia, and the\nsea-monster.[121] One point in the legend, however, finds strong\nastronomic support from a study of the precessional globe--namely, the\nfact that Cepheus and Cassiopeia were personages of Ethiopian--_i.e._,\nof tropical provenance.\n\n  [121] See below at p. 246, and pp. 242, 243.\n\nIt will be seen in Plate XXII., fig. 1, that only in a latitude as far\nSouth as 18\u00b0 N. could the figure of Cassiopeia--even at the early date\nof 6000 B.C.--have been imagined as that of a queen seated in royal\ndignity, and visible in the northern quarter of the heavens.\n\nBy referring to Plate XV., we may learn that in Lat. 45\u00b0 N. at that\ndate, Cassiopeia would have appeared in the southern quarter of the\nsphere, head downwards, while the figure of Cepheus could only have\nbeen observed by turning first to one and then to the other quarter\nof the sky. As, however, the _head of Cepheus_ would have marked so\nexactly the solstitial colure 6000 B.C., it seemed to me only right\nto seek for a latitude in which his figure and that of his queen\nshould appear upright and in the same quarter of the heavens--a\nlatitude, therefore, in which it might be possible to suppose these\nconstellations had been originated as star-marks of the solstitial\nseason. To attain this object it was necessary to set the globe to the\nvery low latitude of 18\u00b0 N.\n\nTo suppose at 6000 B.C. so wide a diffusion, not only of the human\nrace, but also of astronomical science and authority, seemed to involve\nan historical unlikelihood. Moreover, even if for the sake of suitably\nestablishing the dignity of this regal pair one were tempted to suppose\nthe great improbability of schools of astronomy existing, and with\nequal authority instituting constellations as star-marks for the year,\nin regions as far north as Lat. 45\u00b0 N. and as far south as 18\u00b0 N.--even\nso, I do not think the position of the constellations themselves in\nrelation to the solstitial colure as shown in the diagram is by any\nmeans so convincingly symmetrical as to force us to accept the date\n6000 B.C. for their origin. The head only of Cepheus appears on the\nmeridian, his figure and the whole constellation of Cassiopeia lie\nconsiderably to the east of that line.\n\nUnder these circumstances it is satisfactory to find at a later,\nand therefore at a more historically probable date, and still in an\nEthiopian (tropical) latitude, a meridian line on and about which\nthe constellations Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, and Cetus form a\nwell-balanced group.\n\nThis meridian, it is true, is not that of a solstice or an equinox; but\nit is one which marked a very important astronomical moment--namely,\nthe commencement of the calendrical year--the year counted from the\nentry of the sun into the constellation Aries. (See Plate XXII., fig.\n2.)\n\nOf the high calendrical importance attached through thousands of years\nto this point in the sun\u2019s annual course by the Accadian and Babylonian\nnations and by the Hindus down to the present day, astronomic records\ntestify. Egyptian mythology and Chinese traditions also, as I have\nclaimed, refer to it: it need not, therefore, surprise us to find\nconstellations imagined to mark the beginning of a year counted from\nthat point, even at a date when this beginning did not coincide either\nwith solstice or equinox.\n\n3500 B.C. is the approximate date I would suggest in a latitude not far\nfrom 23\u00b0 N. for the origin of the constellations Cepheus, Cassiopeia,\nand probably also for that of Cetus.\n\nThe legend tells us that Cassiopeia by boasting of her own or of her\ndaughter\u2019s surpassing beauty incurred the enmity of the nereids. She is\n\n    \u201c... that starr\u2019d Ethiop queen that strove\n    To set her beauty\u2019s praise above\n    The sea-nymphs, and their power offended.\u201d[122]\n\n  [122] Milton, _Il Penseroso_.\n\nIt seems to me that for this legend, as for many others, an astronomic\nbasis may be assigned. 3500 B.C. the solstitial colure passed through\nthe constellation Aquarius. The stars of that constellation might then\nnot unfitly have been likened to sea divinities, and rival schools of\nastronomers and calendar keepers may have exalted the praise, on the\none hand, of the stars that marked a calendrical, and, on the other\nhand, of those that marked a solstitial year.\n\nA curious fact as to the lines in which Aratos refers to the\nconstellation Cassiopeia must here be noted.\n\nAratos versified \u201cthe _Phainomena_ of the astronomer Eudoxos, who\nlived cir. B.C. 403-350.\u201d It has often been pointed out that the facts\nconcerning the constellations which Aratos and Eudoxos record \u201care to\na great extent traditional and archaic, and belong to another and far\nearlier epoch.\u201d What is said of Cassiopeia is a case in point; for thus\nthe poet deplores her pride and its punishment at line 654 _et seq._--\n\n    \u201cAnd now she, too, her daughter\u2019s form pursues,\n    Sad _Kassiepeia_; nor seemly still\n    Show from her seat her feet and knees above;\n    But she head foremost like a tumbler sits:\n    With knees divided: since a doom must fall\n    On boasts to equal Panop\u00ea and Doris.\u201d[123]\n\n  [123] _The Phainomena or \u201cHeavenly Display\u201d of Aratos_, _ub. supr._\n\nNow in Eudoxos\u2019 time and in his latitude, though Cassiopeia\u2019s head did\nby a few degrees extend into the southern heavens, yet her position was\nnot so deplorably ignominious as the poem would suggest. Three thousand\nyears earlier the pity for her expressed by Aratos would have been\nmore appropriate, for then her whole figure for observers in lat. 35\u00b0\nN. would have been visible in the southern quarter of the sky, and her\nfeet, not her head (as at Lat. 23\u00b0 N.), would have been on the zenith.\n\nThese considerations may lead us to suppose that the idea of\nCassiopeia\u2019s pride, and the fit punishment of it--_i.e._, her reversed\nposition in the heavens, must have assumed form in _northern_ latitudes\nalmost at as early a date as the constellation figures were first\nimagined in _tropical_ latitudes.\n\nIf this be so, it is indeed curious to find a legend which embodied\nthe _animus_ of astronomic rivalry 3500 B.C. handed down for thousands\nof years, and repeated in what professed to be a somewhat scientific\ntreatise at a date between 400 and 300 B.C., when the astronomic facts\nno longer tallied with those narrated in the legend.\n\nAs to Andromeda, the classic story describes her as the daughter\nof Cepheus and Cassiopeia; but the constellation itself--except on\nlegendary grounds--might equally well have marked the beginning of a\nsolstitial year 6000 B.C., or of a non-solstitial and calendrical year\n3500 B.C.\n\nThe terrible prevalence of human sacrifices in ancient times, and\nat the solstices especially, may make us almost fear that the\nrepresentation of a chained human victim had its place in the sphere at\nthe earlier (solstitial) date.\n\nThe chains which bind Andromeda\u2019s arms are fastened by staples to the\nsky. They appear (at fig. 1) at 6000 B.C. as though driven into two\nimportant astronomic lines--_i.e._, one of them into the line of the\nequator, the other into that of the solstitial colure. This may, of\ncourse, be a mere coincidence, and should not be allowed to weigh at\nall heavily in the almost evenly adjusted balance of probabilities\nregarding the date of the origin of the constellation Andromeda. Her\nstory is so interwoven, not only with that of Cepheus and Cassiopeia,\nbut also with that of the sea-monster Cetus, that we should not hastily\nattempt to dissociate the members of this group.\n\nThe very interesting question as to what southern people first depicted\nthe Ethiopic king and queen on the sphere cannot be answered on\nastronomic grounds. We know that the latitude in which these figures\nwere imagined must have been tropical, if the date of their imagining\nwas as early as 3500 _B.C._ But we cannot learn from the celestial\nglobe what was the longitude of the land in which they were so\nimagined. Ethiopia proper, and parts of Arabia and India, lie within\nthe tropics, and the term Ethiopia, in classic writings, embraces all\nthese countries.\n\nEtymologists are, I believe, divided in opinion as to what language\nthe rather un-Grecian names, Cepheus and Cassiopeia, were derived\nfrom. Some writers have suggested for their origin the Sanscrit names\nCapuja and Cassyape: and if, as I have already urged, the Aries-year\nwas followed in ancient Vedic times in India, the Sanscrit derivation\nsuggested will seem not an unlikely one. Nor under these suppositions\nwould it be difficult to propose a possible Sanscrit origin for the\nname Andromeda, though for this purpose we should have to deprive the\nlegend of all its classic and romantic charm. Cassyape, in Sanscrit\nstory, is not the name of a gloriously beautiful queen, but of a\n\u201csage,\u201d and it might be that the constellation Andromeda also, for\nancient Indian astronomers, represented merely a _human_ sacrifice, not\nthat of the beautiful daughter of a beautiful mother. Though in the\nRig Veda there is no legend of the sacrifice of a woman, yet in it we\nmeet with seven consecutive hymns referring to the sacrifice, real or\nsymbolical, of Sunah\u015bepas, the son of a rishi or sage, who, according\nto the commentators, had consented to yield his son up to this cruel\nfate. The prayers of the victim, addressed to many gods, at last result\nin his deliverance.\n\nTwo other hymns in the Rig Veda relate to the great ceremony of the\nsacrifice, real or symbolical, of a horse. I give at p. 252 some of the\nconsiderations which have convinced me that the praises of the winged\nsteed--_i.e._, of the constellation Pegasus, and not merely the praises\nof an earthly horse, are the subject of these two hymns. The ceremony\nin question bore the name of Aswamedha, literally Horse-Sacrifice.\n\nIn reading and comparing these two series of sacrificial hymns, some\npoints of contact present themselves, and, observing this, it occurred\nto me that some Sanscrit word ending in _Medha_--_i.e._, sacrifice,\nand conveying the meaning of _human sacrifice_, might by ancient\nIndian astronomers have been attached to the constellation, which\nfor us represents the hapless Andromeda: for if we suppose that the\nconstellations Cassiopeia and Cepheus were imagined in India, but\nadopted with an appropriate legend into the Grecian sphere--the names\nof the personages in the legend at the same time suffering a Grecian\nchange--it would be easy further to suppose that the Indian name of\nthe constellation near to them, transformed and misunderstood, came to\nrepresent in Grecian story not merely a _human_ sacrifice, but that of\nthe much-to-be-pitied daughter of the proud Cassiopeia.\n\nWhether these fanciful speculations concerning the names of the actors\nin the ancient legend be adopted or not need not affect our judgment\nas to the reasonableness, or otherwise, of the date, 3500 B.C., and of\nLat. 23\u00b0 N. for the origin of the constellational group here discussed.\n\n\nPLATE XXIII.[124]\n\n  [124] The figures in this plate have been drawn from the globe\n  adjusted to the following dates and latitudes. Figs. 1 and 2, 3589\n  B.C., Lat. 35\u00b0 N. Fig. 3, 3050 B.C., Lat. 35\u00b0 N. Fig. 4, 1443 B.C.,\n  Lat. 40\u00b0 N.\n\nThe probable dates for the first imagining of four constellations are\nhere given--namely, for the Centaur, Ophiuchus, Auriga, and Perseus.\n\nFor the Centaur the date in round numbers of 3500 B.C. (fig. 1) is\nsuggested: at that date his huge figure would have well marked, in\nopposition, the beginning of the calendrical Aries-year; or, in\nconjunction with the sun, the beginning of the seventh month of the\nsame year. It is not necessary, at that date, to attribute a low\nlatitude to the astronomers who designed this figure: in that of 35\u00b0\nN., as shown in the diagram, the whole constellation would then have\nbeen well above the horizon. The much earlier epoch of 6000 B.C. might\nperhaps be claimed for the Centaur. At that date, as I have assumed,\nthe calendrical and the solstitial year coincided. (Compare Plate XVII.\nand Plate IX.) As between 6000 and 3500 B.C. I have often hesitated,\nbut on the whole I have come to think the later date, as here given,\nthe more probable.\n\nFig. 2.--Again at the date 3500 B.C. and in the latitude 35\u00b0 N. I\nhave drawn the constellation Ophiuchus as it would have appeared in\nopposition to the sun at the season of the spring equinox; triumphing\nover the powers of darkness--namely, the scorpion on which he treads\nand the serpent which he crushes with his hands. Although at the date\nin question Hercules\u2019 position in the northern heavens was not quite\nso commanding and symmetrical as it was a thousand years earlier (see\nPlate XIX.), yet in the lower latitude given here (Plate XXIII., fig.\n2) the heads of Hercules and of Ophiuchus would have been on the\nzenith, and these brothers might have been seen, one of them in the\nnorthern and the other in the southern quarter of the sky, strongly\ncombating and conquering the forces of winter and darkness at the\nseason of the spring equinox.\n\nFig. 3.--For Auriga, I have suggested the later date of 3000 B.C.,\nfor then the bright star Capella, the most important star in the\nconstellation and one of the brightest in that part of the sky, was\non the meridian in conjunction with the sun at noon of the spring\nequinox--and in opposition at mid-night of the autumn equinox.\n\nThe star Capella has, by several writers, been identified with the\nstar \u201cIcu of Babylon\u201d mentioned in many of the Babylonian astrological\ntexts. If this identification of Capella and \u201cIcu of Babylon\u201d should\nbe established as correct, we ought, I suppose, to credit _Babylonian_\nastronomers with the delineation of the figure Auriga.\n\nFig. 4.--Unless we adopt on the authority of the Cepheus, Cassiopeia,\nand Andromeda legend the date 3500 for Perseus, it will seem, I think,\nalmost necessary to attribute the much later one of 1433 B.C. for the\ndesigning of this constellation. At the earlier date the position of\nPerseus--see Plate XXII., fig. 2--militates against the likelihood of\nits having then been imagined; as part of the figure of Perseus would\nhave been visible in the northern and part in the southern hemisphere.\n\nIn favour of the later date we may note the way in which the figure\nof Perseus has been fitted in, as it were, between already-named\nconstellations, so that though restricted to a small space it still\nretains heroic proportions.\n\nThe star Algol, whose strange alternations of magnitude may well have\nsuggested to the ancients the _winking_ of the eye of some malignant\nmonster, was imagined by the astronomers who drew the figure of\nPerseus, as on the brow of the Gorgon Medusa. It will be seen in the\nPlate how, at the date there given, this mysterious star exactly marked\nthe equinoctial meridian.\n\nThe northern latitude 40\u00b0 N., suitable for the imagining of this\nconstellation, and its name Perseus, seem to point to an Iranian school\nof astronomers as the probable originators of this figure.\n\n\nPLATE XXIV.\n\nIt will be seen that by consulting the precessional globe it has been\npossible to suggest dates at which the various simple and composite\nhuman figures, represented on the (Grecian) sphere could have been\noriginally imagined in an upright position, either on the northern or\nsouthern meridian at some well-marked time of the year--that is of\neither a cosmical or a calendrical year.\n\nThat many other of the remaining ancient constellations--Canis Major\nand Canis Minor, Aquila, Cygnus, &c., were depicted and named at very\nremote dates, there can, I think, be little doubt. The wide-spread\ntraditions connected with these figures demand an early origin for\nthem. It is probable that the _heliacal rising_ of certain bright stars\nin these constellations at some special season of the year, rather than\ntheir _culmination at noon or at midnight_, may have been the occasion\nfor the interest taken in them.\n\nA further study of the precessional globe with this thought present\nwould probably suggest approximate dates for the imagining of some of\nthese constellations, small in extent but marked by bright stars.\n\nI will now only allude to the two remaining ancient constellations of\n_wide extent_--namely, to Argo and Pegasus.\n\nGlancing at Plate X. (Astronomy in the Rig Veda) the almost upright and\nsymmetrical position of Argo 3000 B.C. may suggest the likelihood that\nat that date or perhaps a few hundred years later, and in a latitude\nabout 12\u00b0 higher than that given in the diagram, this constellation\nwas imagined. It will be observed that all the stars of Argo, even the\nbright and southern Canopus at 35\u00b0 N. would have been above the horizon\nand visible at midnight of the winter solstice. At noon of the summer\nsolstice they would have been above the horizon, but invisible in\nconjunction with the sun.\n\nBut now turning our thoughts to the constellation Pegasus, a difficulty\nconfronts us at every date from 6000 B.C. downwards even to this\npresent A.D. 1903: Pegasus as depicted on the globe has held and still\nholds a reversed position in the heavens. The very fact that for all\nthe other ancient constellations which represent living beings, it has\nbeen possible to find some season and some date at which they could\nhave been observed upright in the sky, makes it a more imperative need\nto seek for some explanation of the anomalous treatment meted out by\nastronomers of old to the winged steed.\n\nIn this stress of difficulty, I venture to make a suggestion which\nwill, I fear, at first sight, appear far-fetched and fanciful, and\nquite out of line with other suppositions put forward in this book.\n\nMy suggestion is that an error concerning the right depicting of this\nconstellation was fallen into by some astronomers of old, and that this\nerror was handed down to us through the Grecian school.\n\nIf on some clear autumnal or winter night we search for the\nconstellation Pegasus, not on a globe or map but in the southern\nquarter of the actual sky, we may quickly recognise it by four very\nbright stars which mark the corners of an almost exact and very\nextensive _square_ on the vault of heaven. Then stretching away from\nthe lower and western corner of this square still farther towards\nthe horizon and to the west, we may trace the faint stars which mark\nthe neck, and the somewhat brighter star which marks the head of the\nDemi-Horse: while starting from the upper western corner of the square\nand stretching still higher towards the zenith, and to the west we\ndetect the lines of fainter stars which mark the fore legs and the\nhoofs of Pegasus. If we allow the four stars of the \u201csquare of Pegasus\u201d\nstill to mark the body of the horse, and think of the upper lines\nof faint stars as marking its neck and head and of the lower ones as\nmarking its fore legs and hoofs, the figure exactly reversed will\nstill fit within the limiting lines of the constellation, with the\nsatisfactory result that the winged steed, not miserably floundering on\nits back but upright and alert, will be seen in our mental vision night\nafter night pursuing its course from east to west across the heavens.\n\n[Illustration: AQUARIUS]\n\nBut even to arrive at so satisfactory a result, we might scarcely dare\nto propose without some other plea than its mere desirability, so\narbitrary a method of dealing with the reversed position of Pegasus,\nas that of thus correcting a supposed error on the part of early\nastronomers.\n\nThere is, however, I think, in Grecian and in Vedic legend some support\nto be found for the opinion that the original position of Pegasus was\nupright and not reversed.\n\nThough on the Grecian astronomic sphere Pegasus appears reversed, on no\nartistic monument, vase, or coin is he thus represented, and in Grecian\nlegend he is ever a glorious and highly-prized friend and helper of\ngods and heroes. Amongst other achievements, we read of him that he\nproduced with a blow of his hoof the inspiring fountain Hippocrene.\n\nIn the Rig Veda we read of a swift horse, belonging to the Aswins, who\nfrom his hoof filled a hundred vases of sweet liquor.\n\nMax M\u00fcller has pointed out that the Aswins possessed a horse called\nPagas. The stars \u03b1 and \u03b2 Arietis are in Hindu astronomy called the\n\u201cAswins,\u201d and at p. 137 I have contended that these stars in Vedic\ntimes symbolised the twin heroes, the Aswins, the possessors, according\nto Max M\u00fcller, of the horse Pagas. If we look at Pegasus in the sky,\nand observe how closely following that constellation the bright stars\nthat mark the head of Aries appear, we shall easily understand how\nthese Aswins might have by Vedic bards been imagined as possessing and\ndriving in front of them the swift steed Pegasus.\n\nIn two hymns addressed to the Aswins we read as follows:[125]--\n\n  MA\u1e46\u1e0cALA I.--S\u00fakta cxvi. and verse 7.\n\n  \u201cYou filled from the hoof of your vigorous steed, as if from a cask,\n  a hundred jars of wine.\u201d\n\n  And again in the next hymn, cxvii. verse 6--\n\n  \u201cYou filled for the (expectant) man a hundred vases of sweet\n  (liquors) from the hoof of your fleet horse.\u201d\n\n  [125] Wilson\u2019s translation of the Rig Veda.\n\nAs Pegasus is now represented his hoofs touch no well or fountain, cask\nor vase. But if we depict him as suggested above (see Plate XXIV.), his\nhoof would indeed appear as almost in the act of striking the vase in\nthe constellation Aquarius, from which the abundant waters gush forth.\n\nI have already alluded to the Aswamedha hymns in the Rig Veda as\nprobably referring not merely to the sacrifice of an actual horse, but\nrather to a symbolic sacrifice of the winged horse of the constellation\nPegasus. In support of this opinion I will quote from the hymns in\nquestion:--\n\n  MA\u1e46\u1e0cALA I.--S\u00fakta clxii.\n\n  \u201c1. Let neither MITRA nor VARUN\u0302A, ARYAMAN, \u00c1YU, INDRA, RIBHUKSHIN,\n  nor the _Maruts_ censure us: when we proclaim in the sacrifice the\n  virtues of the swift horse sprung from the gods.\n\n  \u201c2. When they, (the priests), bring the prepared offering to the\n  presence (of the horse), who has been bathed and decorated with rich\n  (trappings), the various-coloured goat going before him, bleating,\n  becomes an acceptable offering to INDRA and P\u00daSHAN.\n\n  \u201c3. This goat, the portion of P\u00daSHAN, fit for all the gods, is\n  brought first with the fleet courser, so that TWASHT\u0301\u1e5aI may prepare\n  him along with the horse, as an acceptable preliminary offering for\n  the (sacrificial) food.\u201d\n\nLooking at Plate XXIV., Figs. 1, 2, we may observe how the\nconstellation Capricornus \u201cgoes before\u201d that of Pegasus, and we may\nunderstand the aspiration that Twasht\u0301\u1e5bi may prepare him along with the\nhorse as an acceptable preliminary offering.\n\nAfter many verses entering into minute and rather horrible details of\nthe \u201cimmolation\u201d and even of the cooking of the sacrificial horse the\n19th verse adds--\n\n\u201cThere is one immolator of the radiant horse, which is Time\u201d; and these\nwords seem to carry us back from thoughts of an actual to a, in some\nway, symbolical sacrifice, especially when at verse 21 we read:\n\n\u201cVerily at this moment thou dost not die; nor art thou harmed; for thou\ngoest by auspicious paths to the gods. The horses of INDRA, the steeds\nof the _Maruts_ shall be yoked (to their cars), and a courser shall be\nplaced in the shaft of the ass of the A\u015aWINS (to bear thee to heaven).\u201d\n\nThe following hymn (lxiii.) I give _in extenso_:--\n\n  MA\u1e46\u1e0cALA I.--S\u00fakta clxiii.\n\n  1. Thy great birth, O Horse, is to be glorified; whether first\n  springing from the firmament or from the water, inasmuch as thou hast\n  neighed (auspiciously), for thou hast the wings of the falcon and the\n  limbs of the deer.\n\n  2. TRITA harnessed the horse which was given by YAMA: INDRA first\n  mounted him, and GANDHARBA seized his reins. _Vasus_, you fabricated\n  the horse from the sun.\n\n  3. Thou, horse, art YAMA: thou art A\u2019DITYA: thou art TRITA by a\n  mysterious act: thou art associated with SOMA. The sages have said\n  there are three bindings of thee in heaven.\n\n  4. They have said that three are thy bindings in heaven; three upon\n  earth; and three in the firmament. Thou declarest to me, Horse,\n  who art (one with) VARUN\u0302A, that which they have called thy most\n  excellent birth.\n\n  5. I have beheld, Horse, these thy purifying (regions); these\n  impressions of the feet of thee, who sharest in the sacrifice; and\n  here thy auspicious reins, which are the protectors of the rite that\n  preserve it.\n\n  6. I recognise in my mind thy form afar off, going from (the earth)\n  below, by way of heaven, to the sun. I behold thy head soaring aloft,\n  and mounting quickly by unobstructed paths, unsullied by dust.\n\n  7. I behold thy most excellent form coming eagerly to (receive) thy\n  food in thy (holy) place of earth; when thy attendant brings thee\n  nigh to the enjoyment (of the provender), therefore greedy, thou\n  devourest the fodder.\n\n  8. The car follows thee, O Horse: men attend thee; cattle follow\n  thee; the loveliness of maidens (waits) upon thee; troops of\n  demi-gods following thee have sought thy friendship; the gods\n  themselves have been admirers of thy vigour.\n\n  9. His mane is of gold; his feet are of iron; and fleet as thought,\n  INDRA is his inferior (in speed). The gods have come to partake of\n  his (being offered as) oblation; the first who mounted the horse was\n  INDRA.\n\n  10. The full-haunched, slender-waisted, high-spirited, and celestial\n  coursers (of the sun), gallop along like swans in rows, when the\n  horses spread along the heavenly path.\n\n  11. Thy body, horse, is made for motion; thy mind is rapid (in\n  intention) as the wind; the hairs (of thy mane) are tossed in\n  manifold directions; and spread beautiful in the forests.\n\n  12. The swift horse approaches the place of immolation, meditating\n  with mind intent upon the gods; the goat bound to him is led before\n  him; after him follow the priests and the singers.\n\n  13. The horse proceeds to that assembly which is most excellent: to\n  the presence of his father and his mother (heaven and earth). Go,\n  (Horse), to-day rejoicing to the gods, that (the sacrifice) may yield\n  blessings to the donor.\n\nMany passages in this hymn, such as those in verse 3 referring to Trita\nand Soma, may suggest corroborative astronomic observations,[126] but I\nwould here especially refer to the description, verse 1, of the horse\npossessing \u201cthe wings of the falcon,\u201d and in verse 6 to the words, \u201cI\nbehold _thy head soaring aloft_, and mounting quickly by unobstructed\npaths, unsullied by dust.\u201d\n\n  [126] V. pp. 176, 177.\n\nAs I read these hymns I cannot think merely of an actual horse led to\nsacrifice, but of the winged celestial Pegasus; nor is it easy to think\nof that celestial horse as it is at present depicted, _reversed_ in the\nsky.\n\nThe Vedic poet beheld his head soaring aloft, but in the previous\nverse he has said, \u201cI have beheld Horse, ... those impressions of the\nfeet of thee\u201d; and if these \u201cimpressions\u201d were the stars which, on the\nGrecian sphere, marked the horse\u2019s head, but, as I have contended,\noriginally marked his hoof, then we shall understand how, associated\nwith Soma, and identical with Trita by a mysterious act--_i.e._, at the\nseason of the summer solstice, and when the moon was at its full in the\nconstellation Aquarius, ancient astronomers imagined to themselves the\nhorse Pegasus producing with his hoof the sweet exhilarating waters of\nthe fountain Hippocrene.\n\nThe date of this particular legend concerning the hoof of Pegasus I\nshould be inclined to place at about 3000 B.C., when the solstitial\ncolure was so closely marked by \u201cthose impressions of the feet\u201d of the\n\u201cswift horse sprung from the gods.\u201d For the first imagining of the\nconstellation I think that of 4000 B.C. is more probable (see Plate\nXXIV., Figs. 1, 2).\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XV.\n\n  5,744 B.C.\n  Lat. 45\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Winter Solstice.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Summer Solstice.\n\nFIG. 2.\n\n  5,744 B.C.\n  Lat. 45\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Northern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Winter Solstice.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Summer Solstice.\n\nFIG. 1.]\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XVI.\n\n  5,744 B.C.\n  Lat. 45\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Spring Equinox.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Autumn Equinox.\n\nFIG. 2.\n\n  5,744 B.C.\n  Lat. 45\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Northern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Spring Equinox.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Autumn Equinox.\n\nFIG. 1.]\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XVII.\n\n\n  5,744 B.C.\n  Lat. 45\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Summer Solstice.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Winter Solstice.\n\nFIG. 2.\n\n  5,744 B.C.\n  Lat. 45\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Northern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Summer Solstice.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Winter Solstice.\n\nFIG. 1.]\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XVIII.\n\n  5,744 B.C.\n  Lat. 45\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Autumn Equinox.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Spring Equinox.\n\nFIG. 2.\n\n  5,744 B.C.\n  Lat. 45\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Northern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Autumn Equinox.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Spring Equinox.\n\nFIG. 1.]\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XIX.\n\n  4,667 B.C.\n  Lat. 40\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Autumn Equinox.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Spring Equinox.\n\nFIG. 2.\n\n  4,667 B.C.\n  Lat. 40\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Northern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Autumn Equinox.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Spring Equinox,\n\nFIG. 1.]\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XX.\n\n  4,667 B.C.\n  Lat. 40\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Spring Equinox.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Autumn Equinox.\n\nFIG. 2.\n\n  4,667 B.C.\n  Lat. 40\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Summer Solstice.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Winter Solstice.\n\nFIG. 1.]\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XXI.\n\n  4,128 B.C.\n  Lat. 40\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Autumn Equinox.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Spring Equinox.\n\nFIG. 4.\n\n  4,128 B.C.\n  Lat. 40\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Summer Solstice.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Winter Solstice.\n\nFIG. 3.\n\n  4,128 B.C.\n  Lat 40\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Winter Solstice.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Summer Solstice.\n\nFIG. 1.\n\n  4,128 B.C.\n  Lat 40\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Spring Solstice.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Autumn Solstice.\n\nFIG. 2.]\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XXII.\n\n  5,744 B.C.\n  Lat. 18\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Winter Solstice.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Summer Solstice.\n\nFIG. 2.\n\n  3,589 B.C.\n  Lat. 23\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, beginning Calendrical Year.\n\nVisible--Midnight, 7th Month, Calendrical Year.\n\nFIG. 4.\n\n  5,744 B.C.\n  Lat. 18\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Northern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Winter Solstice.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Summer Solstice.\n\nFIG. 1.\n\n  3,589 B.C.\n  Lat. 23\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Northern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon beginning Calendrical Year.\n\nVisible--Midnight, 7th Month, Calendrical Year.\n\nFIG. 3.]\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XXIII.\n\n  1,433 B.C.\n  Lat. 40\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Spring Equinox.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Autumn Equinox.\n\nFIG. 4.\n\n  3,050 B.C.\n  Lat. 35\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Spring Equinox.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Autumn Equinox.\n\nFIG. 3.\n\n  3,589 B.C.\n  Lat. 35\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, 7th Month, Calendrical Year.\n\nVisible--Midnight, beginning Calendrical Year.\n\nFIG. 1.\n\n  3,589 B.C.\n  Lat. 35\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Autumn Equinox.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Spring Equinox.\n\nFIG. 2.]\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XXIV.\n\n  3,050 B.C.\n  Lat. 23\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Winter Solstice.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Summer Solstice.\n\nFIG. 2.\n\n  4,128 B.C.\n  Lat. 40\u00b0 N.\n\nConstellations above Southern Horizon.\n\nInvisible--Noon, Winter Solstice.\n\nVisible--Midnight, Summer Solstice.\n\nFIG. 1.]\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\n  Ab ab-gar, 4\n\n  Abba uddu, 4\n\n  Abel, 164\n\n  Abhra, 113\n\n  Abib, 165, 166, 168, 170\n\n  Aboo Simbel, 39, 40, 41\n\n  Abraham, 167\n\n  Abu, 2, 4\n\n  Accad, 6, 52-57, 80. _See_ Calendar\n\n  Ach\u00e6menid kings, 60, 73\n\n  A\u00e7vin\u00ee. _See_ Aswin\u012b\n\n  Adar, Adaru, 2-6, 69\n\n  A\u2019ditya, 253\n\n  Agane, 151\n\n  Agni, 125-131, 138, 140, 153, 172, 181, 183\n\n  Agrahayani, 228\n\n  Ahi, 111. _See_ Vritra\n\n  Ahura Mazda, 60, 64, 65, 73-76, 81-83, 149-155, 172, 227\n\n  Airu, 2, 4, 11\n\n  Aitareya Brahmana, 140\n\n  Akiba, Rabbi, 163\n\n  Albumassar, 17, 18\n\n  Alexander, 25, 91, 103\n\n  Algol, 246\n\n  Alphonsus, 23\n\n  Altair, 67\n\n  Amen, 32-41\n\n  Amen-Ra, 32-34, 39-41\n\n  Amon. _See_ Amen\n\n  Amphora, 44, 45, 67, 79, 204, 223, 233, 236\n\n  Andromeda, 239-244, 246\n\n  Anna, 48\n\n  Ap\u0101m Nap\u0101t, 126\n\n  Apin-am-a, 4\n\n  Apis Bull, 218, 233-235\n\n  Apollo, 156\n\n  Apollonius of Tyana, 97\n\n  Aptya. _See_ Trita\n\n  Aquarii \u03b2, 196\n\n  Aquarius, 9, 40, 44-47, 51-57, 66-70, 79, 80, 83, 123, 124, 129-132,\n  144, 174-179, 197, 199, 202, 209, 221-223, 232-235, 241, 250, 251, 255\n\n  Aqrabu, 44\n\n  Aquila, 66-70, 80, 124, 248\n\n  Arakh-makru, 4\n\n  Arakh-samna, 2, 4\n\n  Aratos, 216, 224-227, 241, 242\n\n  Archer. _See_ Sagittarius\n\n  Arcitenens, 44\n\n  Argo, 248\n\n  Aries, 1-19, 24-44, 53-57, 92, 94, 104, 145-147, 170, 171, 186-190,\n  209, 210, 217, 218, 220, 224, 235, 245, 251\n\n  Arietis \u03b1 and \u03b2, 94, 137, 142, 143, 251\n\n  Arsacid\u00e6, 4\n\n  Artemis, 156, 157, 160\n\n  Ar\u016b, 44\n\n  Aryaman, 252\n\n  As a-an, 4\n\n  Assara Mazas, 149, 150\n\n  Assur, 74-79, 83, 84, 86, 150-155, 227\n\n  Assurbanipal, 6, 69\n\n  Assyrian Standard, 77-80, 83, 86\n\n  Asteria, 179\n\n  Asura, 81, 82, 85, 86, 112, 150-153, 182, 183\n\n  Asura maha, 153\n\n  Aswamedha, 244, 251\n\n  Aswin\u012b, 92-94, 104, 132, 134, 136-148, 172, 181, 183, 187, 188, 210,\n  251, 253\n\n  Aswins, the. _See_ Aswin\u012b\n\n  Atharva Veda, 94, 133, 136\n\n  Atri, 141, 181-184\n\n  Attic year, 180\n\n  Auriga, 245, 246\n\n  Ava, 85\n\n  Avesta. _See_ Zend Avesta\n\n  \u00c1yu, 252\n\n\n  Babylonia. _See_ Calendar\n\n  Bahu. _See_ Bau\n\n  Bailly, Jean Silvain, 17, 20, 26, 27, 29\n\n  Barrett, Dr, 222\n\n  Bar zig-gar, 4, 7, 10, 13-15, 53, 104, 165, 166, 171, 172\n\n  Bau, 47-55, 57, 69, 210-212\n\n  Bel, 16, 81\n\n  Bel-Merodach, 69\n\n  B\u00e9lier. _See_ Aries\n\n  Beltis, 16\n\n  Bentley, Mr, 100\n\n  Bergaigne, 140, 143\n\n  Berosus, 18, 83\n\n  Bethel, 233\n\n  Bible, the, 21, 84, 164-170\n\n  Bodhanund\u00e1nath Swami, 157\n\n  Bo\u00f6tes, 223-226\n\n  British Museum, 3, 8\n\n  Brown, Robert, 224, 226, 247\n\n  Browne, Bishop, 21\n\n  Brugsch, 33\n\n  Bull. _See_ Taurus\n\n  Bulls, Assyrian, 87\n\n  Burgess, 90, 93, 98\n\n\n  Cain, 164\n\n  Calendar, Accadian, 1-23, 57-58, 103, 145-147, 187, 208-210, 224\n\n  ---- Babylonian, 1-3, 103, 165, 234\n\n  ---- Chinese, 185-211\n\n  ---- Egyptian, 31, 34, 38, 39\n\n  ---- Grecian, 180\n\n  ---- Gregorian, 193-196\n\n  ---- Hebrew, 162-170, 234\n\n  ---- Indian, 88, 92, 96, 104, 132-148, 167, 171, 176, 181-184, 188,\n       217\n\n  ---- Lagash, 54, 57\n\n  ---- Median, 56-87, 222, 229\n\n  ---- Persian, 58-61\n\n  ---- Roman, 11, 159, 180, 193\n\n  Cambyses, 235\n\n  Cancer, 8, 36, 44, 218-221\n\n  Canis Major, 248\n\n  Canis Minor, 248\n\n  Canopus, 248\n\n  Capella, 246\n\n  Caper, 44\n\n  Capricornus, 52, 218, 220, 222, 252\n\n  Capuja, 243\n\n  Cassiopeia, 239-244, 246\n\n  Cassyape, 243\n\n  Castor, 221, 222\n\n  Centaur, 155-158, 245\n\n  Cepheus, 239-244, 246\n\n  Cetus, 239-243\n\n  Chaitra, 134-138, 171, 172, 181, 188\n\n  Che, 202\n\n  Chevreau, 23\n\n  Ch\u2019in, 207\n\n  China, History of, 197-209\n\n  Chipiez. _See_ Perrot\n\n  Chiron, 155, 156\n\n  Chons, 32, 33\n\n  Cisilivu, 4\n\n  Claudius Ptolemy, 17, 216\n\n  Clemens Alexandrinus, 23\n\n  Confucius, 206, 207\n\n  Cook, 21\n\n  Corona Australis, 77, 229, 230\n\n  Crab. _See_ Cancer\n\n  Cumont, 61\n\n  Cuthah, 85\n\n  Cuzallu, 4\n\n  Cygnus, 248\n\n  Cyrannid books, 17\n\n\n  Dan, 233\n\n  Darmesteter, 60\n\n  Denderah, 218, 232\n\n  Deuteronomy, 169, 170\n\n  Devas, 82\n\n  Dhanus, 223\n\n  Dharbitu, 4\n\n  D\u2019Herbelot, 18\n\n  Diana, 158\n\n  Dianus, 158\n\n  Doris, 242\n\n  Draco, 223\n\n  Dupuis, 27-29\n\n  D\u00fbzu, 2, 4\n\n  Dvita, 177-180\n\n\n  Eagle, 64. _See_ Aquila\n\n  Ebers, 35, 233\n\n  Eden, 21, 22\n\n  Edfu, 232\n\n  Ek\u00e2\u1e63h\u1e6dak\u0101, 134\n\n  Ekata, 177-180\n\n  Ekhud, 48\n\n  Elam, 81\n\n  Ellilla, 48\n\n  Elul, 2, 5\n\n  Eninnu, 48\n\n  Enzu, 44\n\n  Epping and Strassmaier, 1-16, 44, 45, 102\n\n  Equulei, \u03b1, 196\n\n  Esneh, 218\n\n  Eudoxos, 241, 242\n\n  Eul-ya, 185, 204\n\n  Eusebius, 17\n\n  Evetts, 48\n\n  Exodus, 165, 170\n\n\n  Fasti Siculi, 23\n\n  Fomalhaut, 67\n\n  Freya, 96\n\n\n  Gamaliel, Rabbi, 163\n\n  Gandharba, 253\n\n  Gan-ganna, 4\n\n  Ganymede, 70\n\n  Garga, 97\n\n  G\u00e0th\u00e0s, 153\n\n  Gaubil, 204\n\n  Gemini, 10, 44, 77, 146, 220, 221\n\n  Genesis, 21, 210\n\n  Genica, 17\n\n  Gir-tab, 8\n\n  Go, 113\n\n  Goat-fish, 8, 220\n\n  Golden calf, 233, 235\n\n  Gregory XIII., 11, 193\n\n  Griffin, 68\n\n  Griffiths, 31\n\n  Gu, 9, 44-47\n\n  Gudea, 48-57, 208, 209, 222\n\n  Gula, 9, 46-57, 69, 209\n\n  Gutium, 81\n\n\n  Hamath, 85\n\n  \u1e2aammurabi, 3, 4, 6, 12, 83-85\n\n  Heb en-ant, 35\n\n  Hecate, 179\n\n  Hermes, 17\n\n  Hercules, 226, 229, 230, 245, 246\n\n  Herodotus, 81\n\n  Hierakonpolis, 236\n\n  Hillebrandt, 122\n\n  Hippocrene, 251, 255\n\n  Hiu, 196-209\n\n  Hommel, 149-151\n\n  Horus, 33, 40\n\n  Hsi\u00e2, 207\n\n  Hvarya, 150\n\n  Hydra, 117-123, 132, 227, 229\n\n\n  Icu, 246\n\n  Indra, 111-124, 130, 131, 138, 148, 172-183, 252-254\n\n  Innanna, 6\n\n  Innannanki, 5\n\n  Isaac, 167\n\n  Isis, 33\n\n  Istar, 4, 10, 84\n\n\n  Jacob, 167\n\n  Jana, 158\n\n  Janus, 158-160\n\n  Jemsheed, 58\n\n  Jensen, 45, 49, 50, 68, 102\n\n  Jeroboam, 233, 234\n\n  Jerusalem, 163\n\n  Jesuits, 194-196, 207\n\n  Johnston, 40\n\n  Jones, Sir William, 89, 90, 95, 96\n\n  Josephus, 20, 169\n\n  Jupiter, 47, 103\n\n\n  Kail\u00e1\u00e7e, 158\n\n  Kaiomurs, 58\n\n  Kang, 186, 188\n\n  Kao-yang, 201\n\n  Karnak, 35, 36, 39\n\n  Kas, 4, 10\n\n  Ker Porter, 58, 65\n\n  Khar-sidi, 4, 10\n\n  Khophri, 220\n\n  Ki Gingir-na, 4, 10\n\n  K\u00eemta-rapa\u0161tu, 6\n\n  Kio, 185, 186, 188, 191, 210\n\n  Kis, 69\n\n  Kislimu, 2, 4\n\n  Kneeler, The, 226\n\n  Kou, 205\n\n  Kri\u1e63\u00e1nu, 125\n\n  Krishna, 182\n\n  Krittik\u0101, 94, 134, 136\n\n  Ku (sarikku), 44\n\n  Kumbha, 223\n\n\n  Lactantius, 23\n\n  Lagash, 48-57, 68, 69, 208, 209, 222\n\n  Lajard, 63, 66\n\n  L\u00e2\u1e6dadeva, 98\n\n  Layard, 74, 77\n\n  Legge, Mr, 234\n\n  Legge, Professor, 197, 200, 207\n\n  Lehmann, 102\n\n  Leo, 44, 64-70, 79, 80, 83, 221, 232, 233, 235, 236\n\n  Libra, 44, 218-220\n\n  Lion. _See_ Leo.\n\n  Lugal-ki-u\u0161una, 6\n\n  Lydda, 163\n\n  Lyra, 226\n\n\n  Macdonell, 111-128, 153, 175\n\n  Magan, 49\n\n  M\u00e2gha, 134, 135\n\n  Mahesa, 157\n\n  Mahler, 102\n\n  Mailla, P\u00e8re de, 197-200\n\n  Mait, 219\n\n  Manda. _See_ Umman Manda\n\n  Mangala, 96\n\n  Marchesvan, 234\n\n  Marduk, 5\n\n  Mars, 103\n\n  Maruts, 173-175, 184, 252, 253\n\n  Maspero, 33, 49, 68, 69, 219\n\n  Ma\u0161u, 44\n\n  Maut, 32, 33\n\n  Mayer, 102\n\n  Medusa, 246\n\n  Memnonium, 35\n\n  Memphian Triad, The, 33\n\n  Mercury, 9, 103\n\n  Merodach, 68\n\n  Mesopotamia, 8, 49, 80, 83-86, 209\n\n  Mills, 153\n\n  Milton, 181, 241\n\n  Mishna, 163\n\n  Mithr\u00e6um, 62\n\n  Mithras, 60-65, 74, 81, 234, 235\n\n  Mitra, 81, 252\n\n  Mlechchas, 95, 97\n\n  Moguls, 95\n\n  Montucla, 89\n\n  Moses, 165, 167\n\n  M\u1e5biga, 228\n\n  M\u1e5bigashirsha, 228\n\n  M\u00fcller, Max, 251\n\n  Muna-xa, 8\n\n  Munga, 4\n\n  Muradi, 17\n\n\n  Nakshatra, 92, 94, 104, 132, 133, 136, 142, 188, 227-229\n\n  Nan\u00e2, 6\n\n  Nekropolis, 35-37\n\n  Nicephorus, 23\n\n  Nile, 32, 35, 36, 37\n\n  Nineveh, 73, 74, 84, 86\n\n  Ningirsu, 48-51, 208\n\n  Ningiszida, 48\n\n  Ninib, 49-53, 208\n\n  Nisan, 2-19, 53, 69, 163-166\n\n  Nisannu. _See_ Nisan\n\n  Noah, 58\n\n  Noel, 205\n\n  Nowroose, 58-60\n\n\n  Oldenburg, 151, 152\n\n  Olivet, 163\n\n  Onuphrius Panvinius, 23\n\n  Ophiuchus, 245, 246\n\n  Oppert, 102\n\n  Orion, 157, 227-229\n\n  Ormuzd, 65\n\n  Osiride pillars, 40\n\n  Osiris, 33, 219\n\n  Ostia, 62\n\n\n  Pa, 44\n\n  Pagas, 251\n\n  Pait\u00e1maha, 98\n\n  Pa\u00f1chasiddh\u00e2ntik\u00e2, 98\n\n  Pan\u0302i, 112\n\n  Panop\u00ea, 242\n\n  Panvinius, Onuphrius, 23\n\n  Passover, The, 169, 170\n\n  Pauli\u015ba, 98\n\n  Pavam\u0101na. _See_ Soma\n\n  Pegasus, 244, 248-255\n\n  Peking, 194, 195\n\n  Perrot and Chipiez, 64, 71, 73\n\n  Persepolis, 64, 70, 72-74, 86, 87\n\n  Perseus, 179, 239, 245-247\n\n  Petrie, 236\n\n  Phalgun\u012b, 134, 135\n\n  Pharisees, 169\n\n  Philastrius, 23\n\n  Philostratus, 97\n\n  Ph\u0153nicians, 81\n\n  Pisces, 44, 80, 174, 177-179, 202, 220, 221\n\n  Piscium \u03b6, 93\n\n  Pleiades, 94\n\n  Plumptre, 163\n\n  Poissons, Les. _See_ Pisces\n\n  Pollux. _See_ Castor\n\n  Ptah, 40\n\n  Ptolemy, 17, 216\n\n  Pulukku, 44\n\n  Punjaub, 128\n\n  P\u00fashan, 252\n\n\n  Quibell, 236\n\n\n  Ram. _See_ Aries\n\n  Rameses II., 35-40\n\n  Ramessides, 33\n\n  Rashis, 92\n\n  Ravi, 96\n\n  Revat\u012b, 92, 93, 104, 132, 138, 143, 187, 188\n\n  Ribhukshin, 252\n\n  Ricci, Matteo, 194\n\n  Rig Veda, 92, 105-148, 153, 171-184, 228, 244, 251-255\n\n  Rim-sin, 3, 4\n\n  Rishis, 97, 106, 108, 123, 130, 133\n\n  Romaka, 98\n\n  Roman year, 180\n\n  Rome, 61, 172, 193\n\n  Rudra, 152-160, 172-174, 184\n\n  \u1e5a\u1e63is, 141. _See_ Rishis\n\n\n  \u0160abahu, 4\n\n  \u0160ab\u00e2tu, 2\n\n  Sabbath, 163, 169, 170\n\n  Sadducees, 169\n\n  Sagitta, 125\n\n  Sagittarius, 8, 76-83, 147, 150-160, 172-174, 220-223, 227, 230\n\n  Sam, 36\n\n  Samaria, 84, 85\n\n  Samaritan Pentateuch, 22\n\n  Samson Agonistes, 181\n\n  Samsu-iluna, 3, 4\n\n  Sani, 96\n\n  Sara zig-gar, 4. _See_ Bar zig-gar\n\n  Sargon I., 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 16, 80, 81, 83, 151\n\n  Sargon II., 78\n\n  Sassinide dynasty, 60\n\n  Satapatha Brahmana, 141\n\n  Sater, 96\n\n  Saturn, 103\n\n  Saura, 98\n\n  Savit\u1e5b, 140\n\n  S\u00e1vitra, 98\n\n  S\u00e2ya\u1e47a, 228\n\n  Sayce, 7, 9, 46, 69, 81, 102\n\n  Scarab\u00e6us, 218, 220\n\n  Schall, J. A. von, 194, 195\n\n  Schlegel, Gustav, 185, 186, 190, 191, 204, 205\n\n  Scorpio, 8, 44, 63-67, 80, 221, 231-236\n\n  Se-dir, 4, 13, 14, 146, 147\n\n  Se-ki-sil, 4, 13, 14, 146, 147\n\n  Seleucid\u00e6, 4\n\n  Semites, 83-85\n\n  Sepharvaim, 85\n\n  Septuagint, 22\n\n  Seth, 20\n\n  Seti, 36, 39\n\n  Shou, 33\n\n  Shuddh Paksha, 182\n\n  Shukla, 182\n\n  Siddh\u0101ntas, The, 98. _See_ S\u016brya Siddh\u0101nta\n\n  Simannu, 2, 4\n\n  Sing-king, 186\n\n  Siou, 185, 188, 196, 197, 202, 207\n\n  Sirius, 31, 38\n\n  Siva, 157, 173\n\n  Slates, 235-238\n\n  S\u00f3ma, 96\n\n  Soma, 107, 108, 111, 121-125, 131, 138, 172-177, 253-255\n\n  Souciet, 204\n\n  Southern Crown, 77\n\n  Sphinxes, 32, 34\n\n  Spica, 28, 167, 170, 171, 188-190, 210\n\n  Standard, Assyrian, 77-80, 83, 86\n\n  Strassmaier. _See_ Epping\n\n  Strauchius, 23\n\n  Sucra, 96\n\n  Suidas, 23\n\n  Su-kul-na, 4\n\n  Sunah\u015bepas, 244\n\n  Suria, 150\n\n  Surias, 150\n\n  S\u00farya, 182, 183\n\n  S\u016brya Siddh\u0101nta, 90, 93, 98, 187\n\n  Susa, 70-73, 87\n\n  Swarbh\u00e1nu, 182, 183\n\n  Syncellus, 17\n\n\n  Taittir\u00eeya Br\u0101hmana, 136\n\n  Taittir\u00eeya Sanhit\u00e2, 134-136, 139\n\n  Talmud, 162, 163, 169\n\n  Tasritu, 4\n\n  Taurus, 8, 11, 44, 56-87, 146, 154, 156, 159, 160, 221, 232-236\n\n  Tchuen-Hio, 197-210, 222\n\n  Tebitu, 2, 4\n\n  Telloh, 48, 49\n\n  Te (mennu), 44\n\n  Theban Triad, The, 32, 33\n\n  Thebes, 34\n\n  Thibaut, 98\n\n  Thor, 96\n\n  Thoth, 38, 39\n\n  Thraetona, 178\n\n  Thrita, 178\n\n  Tilak, B. G., 134, 135, 228\n\n  Tischritu, 2, 4\n\n  Tisri, 163\n\n  Tithis, 176, 180, 182\n\n  Tortoise, 8, 218\n\n  Trita Aptya, 175-181, 184, 253-255\n\n  Triton, 178, 179\n\n  Tsivan, 4\n\n  Tuisco, 96\n\n  Tul-cu, 4\n\n  Twasht\u0301\u1e5bi, 252\n\n  Twins. _See_ Gemini\n\n  Tyana, 97\n\n\n  \u016adhar, 113\n\n  Ul\u00fblu, 2, 4\n\n  Umman Manda, 81-86, 151\n\n  Unger, 27\n\n  Universal History, 21\n\n  Ursa Major, 224\n\n  U\u1e63as, 139, 140\n\n  Usher, Archbishop, 21, 22\n\n  Utu, 5\n\n\n  Vadya Paksha, 182\n\n  Vala, 112\n\n  Valley, Feast of the, 36, 38\n\n  Var\u0101ha, 97-99\n\n  Var\u0101hamihira. _See_ Var\u0101ha\n\n  Varuna, 152-154, 252, 253\n\n  V\u00e2sis\u1e6dha, 98\n\n  Vasus, 253\n\n  Vedas, 95, 106, 128. _See_ Atharva Veda, Rig Veda, Yajur Veda\n\n  Venus, 103\n\n  Verethraghna, 114\n\n  Verseau. _See_ Aquarius\n\n  Vierge. _See_ Virgo\n\n  Virgil, 159\n\n  Virginis \u03b1, 188\n\n  Virgo, 10, 28, 44, 80, 185, 186, 220, 221\n\n  Vossius, Isaac, 23\n\n  Vrihaspati, 96\n\n  Vritra, 111-123, 148, 177\n\n  Vrtrahan, 114\n\n\n  Wan-nian-shu, 194\n\n  Water-jar. _See_ Amphora\n\n  Water-man. _See_ Aquarius\n\n  Week, Days of, 96\n\n  Whitney, 93, 187\n\n  Wilson, 112, 124-127, 153, 182, 251\n\n  Woden, 96\n\n  Wogue, 169\n\n\n  Yajur Veda, 94, 133-135\n\n  Yama, 253\n\n  Y\u0101ska, 141\n\n  Yavan, 95, 97\n\n  Yoga stars, 142\n\n\n  Zamama, 69\n\n  Zend Avesta, 60, 113, 114, 178\n\n  Zeus, 70\n\n  Zib, 44\n\n  Ziban\u00eetu, 44\n\n  Zodiac, 2 _et passim_\n\n  Zu, 69\n\n\nPRINTED AT THE EDINBURGH PRESS, 9 AND 11 YOUNG STREET.\n\n\n\n\n  _FROM MR MURRAY\u2019S LIST._\n\n\n  A NEW AND POPULAR EDITION.\n\n  The Moon.\n\n  CONSIDERED AS A PLANET, A WORLD, AND A SATELLITE.\n\n  By JAMES NASMYTH, C.E., and JAMES CARPENTER, F.R.A.S.,\n\n  Late of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.\n\n  _With numerous Illustrations. Square Demy 8vo. 5s. net._\n\n\n  A Short History of Astronomy.\n\n  By ARTHUR BERRY, M.A.,\n\n  Fellow of King\u2019s College, Cambridge.\n\n  Primitive Astronomy--Greek Astronomy--The Middle\n  Ages--Copernicus--The Reception of the Copernican Theory and\n  the Progress of Observation--Galileo--Kepler--From Galilei to\n  Newton--Universal Gravitation--Observational Astronomy in the 18th\n  Century--Gravitational Astronomy in the 18th Century--Herschel--The\n  19th Century--List of Authorities and of Books for Students--Index.\n\n  _With over 100 Illustrations. Crown 8vo._ 6s.\n\n  \u201cA work which will be of the greatest value to all serious students\n  of astronomy.\u201d--_Manchester Guardian._\n\n\n  The Stars.\n\n  A STUDY OF THE UNIVERSE.\n\n  By Professor NEWCOMB.\n\n  _Illustrated. Large Crown 8vo. 6s._\n\n\n  The Tides and Kindred Phenomena in the Solar System.\n\n  THE SUBSTANCE OF LECTURES DELIVERED AT THE LOWELL INSTITUTE, BOSTON,\n  MASSACHUSETTS, IN 1897.\n\n  By GEORGE HOWARD DARWIN,\n\n  Plumian Professor and Fellow of Trinity College, in the University of\n  Cambridge.\n\n  _With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d._\n\n  \u201cProfessor Darwin has succeeded in giving a very clear and lucid\n  account of the matters of which he treats.\u201d--_Times._\n\n\n  Egypt under the Pharaohs.\n\n  By HEINRICH BRUGSCH-BEY.\n\n  CONDENSED AND REVISED By M. BRODRICK.\n\n  _With Maps, Plans, and Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 18s._\n\n\n  Outlines of Ancient Egyptian History.\n\n  By AUGUSTE MARIETTE.\n\n  TRANSLATED AND EDITED WITH NOTES\n\n  By MARY BRODRICK.\n\n  SECOND EDITION. _With Maps. Crown 8vo. 5s._\n\n\n  Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians.\n\n  By Sir J. GARDNER WILKINSON, F.R.S.\n\n  REVISED AND ABRIDGED FROM HIS LARGER WORK.\n\n  _Illustrated with 500 Woodcuts. 2 Vols. Post 8vo. 12s._\n\n\n  WORKS by the late Sir A. HENRY LAYARD.\n\n  =NINEVEH AND ITS REMAINS.= With an Account of a Visit to the Chaldean\n  Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezedis, or Devil Worshippers, etc.\n  With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d.\n\n  =NINEVEH AND BABYLON=: a Narrative of a Second Expedition to the\n  Ruins of Assyria, with Travels in Armenia. With Illustrations. Crown\n  8vo. 7s. 6d.\n\n  =EARLY ADVENTURES IN PERSIA, BABYLONIA, AND SUSIANA=, including a\n  residence among the Bakhtiyari and other Wild Tribes. With Portrait,\n  Map, and Illustrations. 2 Vols. Crown 8vo. 24s. Also in 1 Vol. Crown\n  8vo. 7s. 6d.\n\n  =THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND LETTERS OF SIR A. HENRY LAYARD=, G.C.B.,\n  D.C.L. From his Childhood until his Appointment as H.M. Ambassador at\n  Madrid. With an Additional Chapter on his Parliamentary career, by\n  the Right Hon. Sir ARTHUR OTWAY. Edited by the Hon. WILLIAM NAPIER\n  BRUCE. With Portraits and Illustrations. 2 Vols. Demy 8vo. 25s. net.\n\n  \u201c... one of the most interesting volumes of Memoirs published in\n  recent years.\u201d--_Vanity Fair._\n\n  \u201cThe volumes are fascinating reading.\u201d--_Daily News._\n\n\n  WORKS OF TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE.\n\n\n  =SERVICE AND SPORT ON THE TROPICAL NILE.= Some Records of the Duties\n  and Diversions of an Officer among Natives and Big Game during the\n  Re-occupation of the Nilotic Province. By Captain C. A. SYKES, R.H.A.\n  With a Map, and Illustrations from Photographs and from Drawings made\n  by Major E. A. P. HOBDAY, R.F.A. Square Crown 8vo. 12s. net\n\n\n  =ROUND THE HORN BEFORE THE MAST.= An Account of a Voyage from San\n  Francisco round Cape Horn to Liverpool in a Four-Masted \u201cWindjammer,\u201d\n  with the Experiences of the Life of an Ordinary Seaman. By A. BASIL\n  LUBBOCK. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 8s. net.\n\n  \u201cA book that Clark Russell could hardly have given us in his palmiest\n  days.\u201d--_Sunday Special._\n\n\n  =IN THE ANDAMANS AND NICOBARS.= The Narrative of a Cruise in\n  the Schooner _Terrapin_, with Notices of the Islands, their\n  Fauna, Ethnology, etc. By C. BODEN KLOSS. With Maps and numerous\n  Illustrations from Photographs taken on the spot. Medium 8vo. 21s.\n  net.\n\n\n  =A NATURALIST IN INDIAN SEAS=: or, Four Years with the Royal Indian\n  Marine Survey Ship _Investigator_. By A. ALCOCK, M.B., LL.D., F.R.S.,\n  Superintendent of the Indian Museum and Professor of Zoology in the\n  Medical College of Bengal. With Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 18s. net.\n\n  \u201cAn exceptionally interesting and important book.\u201d--_Daily News._\n\n  \u201cIt is altogether a delightful volume.... A bright, picturesque, and\n  informing book.\u201d--_Glasgow Herald._\n\n\n  =TEN THOUSAND MILES IN PERSIA=: A Record of Eight Years\u2019 Constant\n  Travel in Eastern and Southern Iran. By Major PERCY MOLESWORTH\n  SYKES (Queen\u2019s Bays), H.M. Consul at Kerman. With Maps and many\n  Illustrations. Medium 8vo. 25s. net.\n\n  \u201cThere has been nothing among recent publications to compare in\n  interest and importance with the substantial volume in which Major\n  Sykes has recorded his experiences.\u201d--_Standard._\n\n\n  =SAVAGE ISLAND=: an Account of a Mission to Niu\u00e9 and Tonga in the\n  Pacific Ocean. By BASIL THOMSON, lately H.M. Special Commissioner.\n  With Map and Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net.\n\n  \u201cMr Thomson has produced a most valuable and charming account of his\n  visit.... We heartily recommend this instructive and diverting volume\n  to the reader.\u201d--_Pall Mall Gazette._\n\n\n  =FINLAND AS IT IS.= By HARRY DE WINDT. With Map and numerous\n  full-page and other Illustrations. Large Crown 8vo. 9s. net.\n\n  \u201c... A chatty, lively account of the land and the people ... the\n  reading of it creates an ardent desire to visit Finland.... No one\n  should go to Finland without this book.\u201d--_Publishers\u2019 Circular._\n\n\n  =THE YANG-TZE VALLEY AND BEYOND.= An Account of Journeys in Central\n  and Western China, especially in the Provinces of Sze-Chuan and among\n  the Man-tze of the Somo Territory. By Mrs BISHOP (Isabella L. Bird),\n  F.R.G.S. With Map and numerous Illustrations. 8vo. 21s. net.\n\n\n  =KING MOMBO.= By PAUL DU CHAILLU, Author of \u201cThe World of the Great\n  Forest,\u201d \u201cThe Land of the Long Night,\u201d \u201cThe Viking Age,\u201d etc. With\n  Illustrations. Large Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net.\n\n  \u201cAn admirable book for boys.\u201d--_Athen\u00e6um._\n\n\n  =THE MAKING OF A FRONTIER=: Five Years\u2019 Experiences and Adventures in\n  Gilgit, Hunza, Nagar, Chitral, and the Eastern Hindu-Kush. By Colonel\n  ALGERNON DURAND, C.B., C.I.E., British Agent at Gilgit, 1889-1894.\n  Military Secretary to the Viceroy of India, 1884-1899. With Portrait,\n  Map, and Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 16s.\n\n  \u201cA work which is full of life and movement, and gives us many quaint\n  glimpses of the life of strange peoples. It is modestly written,\n  as becomes the narration of the author\u2019s surprising success in\n  achieving great results for the Empire, and is full of humorous\n  incident.\u201d--_Pall Mall Gazette._\n\n\n  =FUNAFUTI=; or, Three Months on a Remote Coral Island. An\n  Unscientific Account of a Scientific Expedition in the South Seas. By\n  Mrs EDGEWORTH DAVID. With a Postscript on the Continued Work of the\n  Expedition, by Professor BONNEY, D.Sc., F.R.S. With Illustrations.\n  Large Crown 8vo. 12s.\n\n  \u201cWe like Mrs David immensely well. She is never once dull, and\n  bubbles over with delightful humour in her portrayal of the island\n  and its people.\u201d--_Pall Mall Gazette._\n\n\n  =AT SCHOOL AND AT SEA=: Sketches of Life and Character at Harrow in\n  the Forties, and subsequently in the Royal Navy. With Experiences and\n  Adventures on the Australian Station, in the South Seas, in the Black\n  Sea, in the Trenches at Sebastopol, etc. By \u201cMARTELLO TOWER,\u201d a Naval\n  Officer. With Illustrations. 8vo. 16s.\n\n  \u201cA racy and well-written narrative.\u201d--_Daily Chronicle._\n\n\n  =A BOY IN THE PENINSULAR WAR.= The Services, Adventures, and\n  Experiences of ROBERT BLAKENEY, Subaltern in the 28th Regiment. An\n  Autobiography. Edited by JULIAN STURGIS. Demy 8vo. 16s.\n\n  \u201cFor the rest, this autobiography not only justifies Mr Julian\n  Sturgis\u2019s pious editing, but deserves far more than he claims for it.\n  Amid the crowd of biographies and autobiographies, it has what Sir\n  Joshua with a snap of finger and thumb called \u2018that.\u2019\u201d--A.T.Q.C. in\n  the _Speaker_.\n\n\n  =HAUNTS AND HOBBIES OF AN INDIAN OFFICIAL.= By MARK THORNHILL, Author\n  of \u201cAdventures of a Magistrate in the Indian Mutiny.\u201d Large Crown\n  8vo. 6s.\n\n  \u201cMr Mark Thornhill must be a pleasant man to know, for he has written\n  the kind of book which shows in every line a thoughtful, observant,\n  and kindly personality.\u201d--_Daily Chronicle._\n\n\n  =THE NAVAL PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIA.= By LOUIS BECKE and WALTER JEFFREY.\n  Illustrated. Large Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d.\n\n  \u201c... Delightful to the reader who knows good work when he sees\n  it.\u201d--_Academy._\n\n\n  =AMONG THE CELESTIALS=: Narrative of Travels in Manchuria, across\n  the Gobi Desert and through the Himalayas to India. Abridged from\n  \u201cThe Heart of a Continent,\u201d with additions. By Captain FRANCIS\n  YOUNGHUSBAND, C.I.E., Gold Medallist R.G.S., Author of \u201cThe Relief of\n  Chitral.\u201d With Map and Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d.\n\n\n  =LIVINGSTONE\u2019S FIRST EXPEDITION TO AFRICA, 1840-1856.= With Notes by\n  F. S. ARNOT. Containing many New Illustrations and a Map of South\n  Africa at the time of Livingstone, and another of that country at the\n  present time. Crown 8vo. 5s.\n\n\n  LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.\n\n\n\n\n  Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\n\n  Depending on the hard- and software used to read this text and their\n  settings, not all elements may display as intended.\n\n  Inconsistent spelling and use of diacriticals (also in names),\n  punctuation and hyphenation have been retained, except as mentioned\n  under Changes below.\n\n  Page 5, Iraba^{m}-\u0161in: possibly an error for Iriba^{m}-\u0161in.\n\n  Page 188, paragraph starting Spica (\u03b1 Virginis) is the chief star\n  ...: the use of quote marks around ... \u201csiou Kang), pr\u00e9sident aux\n  m\u00e9tamorphoses de la cr\u00e9ation,\u201d ... is as in the source document.\n\n\n  Changes made\n\n  Footnotes and illustrations have been moved out of text paragraphs.\n  Footnotes have been moved to directly under the paragraph where they\n  are referenced.\n\n  Obvious minor typographical and punctuation errors have been\n  corrected silently.\n\n  Some occurrences of _Ibid._ have been replaced with the full title\n  for the sake of clarity.\n\n  Page 5, footnote [3]: Ululu changed to Ul\u00fblu; Sabahu changed to\n  \u0160abahu.\n\n  Page 39: ... the temple to Amen-Ra ... changed to ... the temple of\n  Amen-Ra ....\n\n  Page 98, ... over the Paulisa and Romaka Siddh\u0101ntas ... changed to\n  ... over the Pauli\u015ba and Romaka Siddh\u0101ntas ....\n\n  Index: the spelling of some entries has been changed to conform to\n  that used in the text.","title":"Ancient calendars and constellations","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":57397}