| Show I 1 OLD STAR GAZERS astran y as it was wa known to the ancient 01 t Egypt egyptians lim X we ve i find in the table tabla at the rames eames seum district references to the bu bull 11 the lion and the scorpion and it is ia also clearl clearly y indicated that at that time the star sirius rose at the beginning of the rise of the nile says a writer in the nineteenth century this word vord hel lacally requires a little explanation tho the ancients who had bad no tele telescopes dopes and had to use their horizon as the only sc scientific lentif io instrument ment w which h ich they possessed w were ere very c isa reful in determining the various con dillons in which a star could coula rise fo il if 11 a star were rising at the same tinie time as the sun was was rising it was was said to rise ilie cosmically but unless arta afi very obvious prec precautions precaution autio n s where were taken the rising tr star w uld not bo be ae seen en in consequence of bf lae it presence pre senca of ofaf daylight yli ht it is ib quite clear that if we ob observe serve a star star rising in the dawn it will get moria more and mora lt to observe the nearer the time of sunrise is approached pro ached therefore what the an did was wa to determine 6 a time in thi the early dawn at which the star could be very obviously and clearl clearly y seen to rise the term helical ri Is L n was coined to a s tar star rising in the dawn therefore before the sun generally throughout egypt the sun was supposed to be something like ton ten degrees below the horizon when a star was waa stated to rise helia sally dally we find then that more than five thousand years ago the egyptians were perfectly familiar with these facts and the difference between a eo and hel heliacal lacal rising was perfectly clear to them but the table at thebes tells us moreover that the suns buns journey in relation to some of the zodiacal constellations were perfectly familiar years ago these then are some of the more general statements which may be mado made with regard to the most important points so far discussed by those who have dealt with egyptian astronomy and it may be added that all this information has come to us in m mythological guise the various apparent movements of the heavenly bodies which are pro alced by the rotation and revolution of the earth and tho the effects of precession were familiar to the egyptians how aver ignorant they may have been of the causes they carefully studied what they saw and attempted to put their knowledge together in the most convenient fashion associating it with their strange imaginings and with their system of worship |
