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بہتر
OF
FIG. 11.-The Great Pyramid Observatory.
Frontispiece.
GREAT
THE

PYRAMID
OBSERVATORY, TOMB, AND TEMPLE
BY
RICHARD A PROCTOR
EDITOR OF
KNOWLEDGE
<
AUTHOR OF SATURN AND ITS SYSTEM' THE SUN
'OTHER WORLDS THAN OURS' ETC.
}
THE MOON'

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
London
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1883
[All rights reserved]
LONDON: PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
gt. Wenley Leb
Rejíau)
4-5-39
:
PREFACE.
THE mystery of the Great Pyramid resides chiefly
in this that while certainly meant to be a tomb,
it was obviously intended to serve as an observa-
tory, though during the lifetime only of its builder,
and was also associated with religious observances.
Minor difficulties arise from the consideration of
the other pyramids. In this treatise I show that
there is one theory, which, instead of conflicting
with other theories of the pyramid, combines all
that is sound in them with what has hitherto been
wanting, a valid and sufficient reason (for men who
thought as the builders of the pyramid certainly
did) for erecting structures such as these, at the
cost of vast labour and enormous expense. The
theory here advanced and discussed shows-(1) why
the Great Pyramid was an astronomical observatory
while Cheops lived; (2) why it was regarded as use-
بلو ال 30 - 10 -4
1
vi
PREFACE.
less as such after his death; (3) why it was worth
his while to build it; (4) why separate structures
were required for his brother, son, grandson, and
other members of his family; (5) why it would
naturally be used for his tomb; and (6) why it
would be the scene of religious observances. All
that is necessary by way of postulate, is that he
and his dynasty believed fully in astronomy as a
means (1) of predicting the future, and (2) of ruling
the planets, in the sense of selecting right times
for every action or enterprise. If there is one.
thing certain about Oriental nations in remote.
past ages, it is that this belief was universally
prevalent.
The remaining portion of the work shows
how potent were those ancient superstitions about
planetary influences-and their bearing first on
Jewish, and later on Christian festivals and cere-
monial.
ནད
RICHARD A. PROCTOR.
CONTENTS.
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
CHAPTER
I. HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS
II. THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID .
PAGE
I
42
III.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS
•
·
78
Appendix A.
Great Pyramid Measures, and Distances, etc.,
of Sun, Earth, and Moon
•
184
B.
دو
Excavations at the Pyramids
Note on the Above
•
191
196
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK .
SATURN AND THE SABBATH OF THE JEWS
ASTRONOMY AND THE JEWISH FESTIVALS
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
ASTROLOGY
•
201
243
272
287
A
•
312
CHIEF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATES.
THE GREAT PYRAMID OBSERVATORY
HORIZONTAL SECTION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID
TIIROUGH FLOOR OF KING'S CHAMBER.
VERTICAL SECTION THROUGH THE GRAND GAL-
LERY
VERTICAL SECTION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID,
SHOWING THE ASCENDING AND DESCENDING
PASSAGES, GRAND GALLERY, AND QUEEN'S
CHAMBER
•
Frontispiece
To face p. 138
WOODCUTS IN TEXT.
PLAN OF THE PYRAMIDS OF GHIZEH
SHOWING HOW THE BUILDERS OF THE PYRAMID PRO-
BABLY OBTAINED THEIR BASE
•
VERTICAL SECTION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID
SECTIONS OF GREAT GALLERY, ETC.
141
155
·
79
95
. 120
•
130 and 131
h
THE
GREAT PYRAMID,
CHAPTER I.
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
FEW subjects of inquiry have proved more pcr-
plexing than the question of the purpose for which
the pyramids of Egypt were built. Even in the
remotest ages of which we have historical record,
nothing seems to have been known certainly on
this point. For some reason or other, the builders
of the pyramids concealed the object of these
structures, and this so successfully that not even a
tradition has reached us which purports to have
been handed down from the epoch of the pyra-
mids' construction. We find, indeed, some expla-
nations given by the earliest historians; but they
were professedly only hypothetical, like those ad-
vanced in more recent times. Including ancient
and modern theories, we find a wide range of
B
2
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
choice. Some have thought that these buildings
were associated with the religion of the early
Egyptians; others have suggested that they were
tombs; others, that they combined the purposes
of tombs and temples, that they were astronomical
observatories, defences against the sands of the
Great Desert, granaries like those made under
Joseph's direction, places of resort during exces-
sive overflows of the Nile; and many other uses
have been suggested for them. But none of these
ideas are found on close examination to be tenable
as representing the sole purpose of the pyramids,
and few of them have strong claims to be regarded
as presenting even a chief object of these remark-
able structures. The significant and perplexing
history of the three oldest pyramids—the Great
Pyramid of Cheops, Shofo, or Suphis, the pyramid
of Chephren, and the pyramid of Mycerinus; and
the most remarkable of all the facts known re-
specting the pyramids generally, viz. the circum-
stance that one pyramid after another was built
as though each had become useless soon after it
was finished, are left entirely unexplained by all
the theories above mentioned, save one only, the
tomb theory, and that does not afford by any
means a satisfactory explanation of the circum-
stances.
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
3
I propose to give here a brief account of some
of the most suggestive facts known respecting the
pyramids, and, after considering the difficulties
which beset the theories heretofore advanced, to
indicate a theory (new. so far as I know) which
seems to me to correspond better with the facts.
than any heretofore advanced; I suggest it, how-
ever, rather for consideration than because I
regard it as very convincingly supported by the
evidence. In fact, to advance any theory at
present with confident assurance of its correctness,
would be simply to indicate a very limited ac-
quaintance with the difficulties surrounding the
subject.
Let us first consider a few of the more striking
facts recorded by history or tradition, noting, as
we proceed, whatever ideas they may suggest as
to the intended character of these structures.
It is hardly necessary to say, perhaps, that the
history of the Great Pyramid is of paramount
importance in this inquiry. Whatever
Whatever purpose
pyramids were originally intended to subserve
must have been conceived by the builders of that
pyramid. New ideas may have been superadded
by the builders of later pyramids, but it is unlikely
that the original purpose can have been entirely
abandoned. Some great purpose there was, which
B 2
4
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
the rulers of ancient Egypt proposed to fulfil by
building very massive pyramidal structures on a
particular plan. It is by inquiring into the history
of the first and most massive of these structures,
and by examining its construction, that we shall
have the best chance of finding out what that
great purpose was.
According to Herodotus, the kings who built
the pyramids reigned not more than twenty-eight
centuries ago; but there can be little doubt that
Herodotus misunderstood the Egyptian priests
from whom he derived his information, and that
the real antiquity of the pyramid-kings was far
greater. He tells us that, according to the Egyp-
tian priests, Cheops on ascending the throne
plunged into all manner of wickedness. He
closed the temples, and forbade the Egyptians to
offer sacrifice, compelling them instead to labour
one and all in his service, viz. in building the Great
Pyramid.' Still following his interpretation of the
Egyptian account, we learn that one hundred thou-
sand men were employed for twenty years in build-
ing the Great Pyramid, and that ten years were
occupied in constructing a causeway by which to
convey the stones to the place and in conveying
them there. Cheops reigned fifty years; and was
succeeded by his brother Chephren, who imitated
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
5
the conduct of his predecessor, built a pyramid-
but smaller than his brother's-and reigned fifty-
six years. Thus during one hundred and six years
the temples were shut and never opened.' More-
over, Herodotus tells us that the Egyptians so
detested the memory of these kings, that they do
not much like even to mention their names. Hence
they commonly call the pyramids after Philition, a
shepherd who at that time fed his flocks about the
place.' 'After Chephren, Mycerinus, son of Cheops,
ascended the throne. He reopened the temples,
and allowed the people to resume the practice of
sacrifice. He, too, left a pyramid, but much infe-
rior in size to his father's. It is built, for half of
its height, of the stone of Ethiopia,' or, as Pro-
fessor Smyth (whose extracts from Rawlinson's
translation I have here followed) adds, 'expensive
red granite.' 'After Mycerinus, Asychis ascended
the throne. He built the eastern gateway of the
Temple of Vulcan (Phtha); and being desirous of
eclipsing all his predecessors on the throne, left as
a monument of his reign a pyramid of brick.'
This account is so suggestive, as will presently
be shown, that it may be well to inquire whether
it can be relied on. Now, although there can be
no doubt that Herodotus misunderstood the Egyp-
tians in some matters, and in particular as to the
6
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
chronological order of the dynasties, placing the
pyramid-kings far too late, yet in other respects he
seems not only to have understood them correctly,
but also to have received a correct account from
them. The order of the kings above named cor-
responds with the sequence given by Manetho,
and also found in monumental and hieroglyphic
records. Manetho gives the names Suphis I.,
Suphis II., and Mencheres, instead of Cheops,
Chephren, and Mycerinus; while, according to the
modern Egyptologists, Herodotus's Cheops was
Shofo, Shufu, or Koufou; Chephren was Shafre,
while he was also called Nou-Shofo or Noun-
Shufu as the brother of Shofo; and Mycerinus
was Menhere or Menkerre. But the identity of
these kings is not questioned. As to the true
dates there is much doubt, and it is probable that
the question will long continue open; but the
determination of the exact epochs when the
several pyramids were built is not very important
in connection with our present inquiry. We may,
on the whole, fairly take the points quoted above
from Herodotus, and proceed to consider the sig-
nificance of the narrative, with sufficient confidence
that in all essential respects it is trustworthy.
There are several very strange features in the
account,
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
7
In the first place, it is manifest that Cheops
(to call the first king by the name most familiar
to the general reader) attached great importance
to the building of his pyramid. It has been said,
and perhaps justly, that it would be more interest-
ing to know the plan of the architect who devised
the pyramid than the purpose of the king who
built it. But the two things are closely connected.
The architect must have satisfied the king that
some highly important purpose in which the king
himself was interested would be subserved by the
structure. Whether the king was persuaded to
undertake the work as a matter of duty, or only
to advance his own interests, may not be so clear.
But that the king was most thoroughly in earnest
about the work is certain. A monarch in those
times would assuredly not have devoted an enor-
mous amount of labour and material to such a
scheme unless he was thoroughly convinced of its
great importance. That the welfare of his people
was not considered by Cheops in building the
Great Pyramid is almost equally certain. He
might, indeed, have had a scheme for their good
which either he did not care to explain to them or
which they could not understand. But the most
natural inference from the narrative is that his
purpose had no reference whatever to their wel-
8
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
fare. For though one could understand his own
subjects hating him while he was all the time
working for their good, it is obvious that his
memory would not have been hated if some im-
portant good had eventually been gained from his
scheme. Many a far-seeing ruler has been hated
while living on account of the very work for which
his memory has been revered. But the memory of
Cheops and his successors was held in detestation.
May we, however, suppose that, though Cheops
had not the welfare of his own people in his
thoughts, his purpose was nevertheless not selfish,
but intended in some way to promote the welfare
of the human race? I say his purpose, because,
whoever originated the scheme, Cheops carried it
out; it was by means of his wealth and through
his power that the pyramid was built. This is the
view adopted by Professor Piazzi Smyth and
others, in our own time, and first suggested by
John Taylor. 'Whereas other writers,' says Smyth,
'have generally esteemed that the mysterious per-
sons who directed the building of the Great Pyramid
(and to whom the Egyptians, in their traditions,
and for ages afterwards, gave an immoral and
even abominable character) must therefore have.
been very bad indeed, so that the world at large
has always been fond of standing on, kicking, and
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
9
r
insulting that dead lion, whom they really knew
not; he, Mr. John Taylor, seeing how religiously
bad the Egyptians themselves were, was led to
conclude, on the contrary, that those they hated
(and could never sufficiently abuse) might, per-
haps, have been pre-eminently good; or were, at
all events, of different religious faith from them-
selves.' 'Combining this with certain unmis-
takable historical facts,' Mr. Taylor deduced
reasons for believing that the directors of the
building designed to record in its proportions, and
in its interior features, certain important religious
and scientific truths, not for the people then living,
but for men who were to come 4,000 years or so
after.
I consider at length, further on, the evidence
on which this strange theory rests. But there
are certain matters connecting it with the above
narrative which must here be noticed. The
mention of the shepherd Philition, who fed his
flocks about the place where the Great Pyramid.
was built, is a singular feature of Herodotus's
narrative. It reads like some strange misin-
terpretation of the story related to him by the
Egyptian priests. It is obvious that if the word
Philition did not represent a people, but a per-
son, this person must have been very eminent
10
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
and distinguished-a shepherd-king, not a mere
shepherd. Rawlinson, in a note on this portion of
the narrative of Herodotus, suggests that Philitis.
was probably a shepherd-prince from Palestine,
perhaps of Philistine descent,' but so powerful and
domineering, that it may be traditions of his
oppressions in that earlier age which, mixed up
afterwards in the minds of later Egyptians with
the evils inflicted on their country by the subse-
quent shepherds of better known dynasties, lent so
much force to their religious hate of Shepherd times
and that name.' Smyth, somewhat modifying this
view, and considering certain remarks of Manetho
respecting an alleged invasion of Egypt by shep-
herd-kings, men of an ignoble race (from the
Egyptian point of view) who had the confidence to
invade our country, and easily subdued it to their
power without a battle,' comes to the conclusion
that some Shemite prince, a contemporary of, but
rather older than, the Patriarch Abraham,' visited
Egypt at this time, and obtained such influence
over the mind of Cheops as to persuade him to
erect the pyramid. According to Smyth, the
prince was no other than Melchizedek, king of
Salem, and the influence he exerted was super-
natural. With such developments of the theory
we need not trouble ourselves. It seems tolerably
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
II
clear that certain shepherd-chiefs who came to
Egypt during Cheops's reign were connected in
some way with the designing of the Great Pyramid.
It is clear also that they were men of a different
religion from the Egyptians, and persuaded Cheops
to abandon the religion of his people. Taylor,
Smyth, and the Pyramidalists generally, consider
this sufficient to prove that the pyramid was
erected for some purpose connected with religion.
'The pyramid,' in fine, says Smyth, was charged
by God's inspired shepherd-prince, in the begin-
ning of human time, to keep a certain message
secret and inviolable for 4,000 years, and it has
done so; and in the next thousand years it was to
enunciate that message to all men, with more than
traditional force, more than all the authenticity of
copied manuscripts or reputed history; and that
part of the pyramid's usefulness is now beginning.'
There are many very obvious difficulties sur-
rounding this theory; as, for example, (i.) the
absurd waste of power in setting supernatural
machinery at work 4,000 years ago with cumbrous.
devices to record its object, when the same ma-
chinery, much more simply employed now, would
effect the alleged purpose far more thoroughly;
(ii.) the enormous amount of human misery and
its attendant hatreds brought about by this alleged
12
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
divine scheme; and (iii.) the futility of an arrange-
ment by which the pyramid was only to subserve
its purpose when it had lost that perfection of
shape on which its entire significance depended,
according to the theory itself. But apart from
these, there is a difficulty, nowhere noticed by
Smyth or his followers, which is fatal, I conceive,
to this theory of the pyramid's purpose. The
second pyramid, though slightly inferior to the
first in size, and probably far inferior in quality of
masonry, is still a structure of enormous dimen-
sions, which must have required many years of
labour from tens of thousands of workmen.
Now,
it seems impossible to explain why Chephren built
this second pyramid, if we adopt Smyth's theory
respecting the first pyramid. For either Chephren
knew the purpose for which the Great Pyramid
was built, or he did not know it. If he knew that
purpose, and it was that indicated by Smyth, then
he also knew that no second pyramid was wanted.
On that hypothesis, all the labour bestowed on the
second pyramid was wittingly and wilfully wasted.
This, of course, is incredible. But, on the other
hand, if Chephren did not know what was the
purpose for which the Great Pyramid was built,
what reason could Chephren have had for build-
ing a pyramid at all? The only answer to this
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS
13
question seems to be that Chephren built the
second pyramid in hopes of finding out why his
brother had built the first, and this answer is
simply absurd. It is clear enough that, whatever
purpose Cheops had in building the first pyramid,
Chephren must have had a similar purpose in
building the second; and we require a theory
which shall at least explain why the first pyramid
did not subserve for Chephren the purpose which
it subserved or was meant to subserve for Cheops.
The same reasoning may be extended to the third
pyramid, to the fourth, and in fine to all the
pyramids, forty or so in number, included under
the general designation of the Pyramids of Ghizeh
or Jeezeh. The extension of the principle to
pyramids later than the second is especially im-
portant as showing that the difference of religion
insisted on by Smyth has no direct bearing on the
question of the purpose for which the Great
Pyramid itself was constructed. For Mycerinus
either never left or else returned to the religion of
the Egyptians. Yet he also built a pyramid, which,
though far inferior in size to the pyramids built by
his father and uncle, was still a massive structure,
and relatively more costly even than theirs, be-
cause built of expensive granite. The pyramid
built by Asychis, though smaller still, was remark-
14
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
able as built of brick; in fact, we are expressly
told that Asychis desired to eclipse all his pre-
decessors in such labours, and accordingly left this
brick pyramid as a monument of his reign.
We are forced, in fact, to believe that there
was some special relation between the pyramid
and its builder, seeing that each one of these.
kings wanted a pyramid of his own. This applies
to the Great Pyramid quite as much as to the
others, despite the superior excellence of that
structure. Or rather, the argument derives its
chief force from the superiority of the Great
Pyramid. If Chephren, no longer perhaps having
the assistance of the shepherd-architects in plan-
ning and superintending the work, was unable to
construct a pyramid so perfect and so stately as
his brother's, the very fact that he nevertheless
built a pyramid shows that the Great Pyramid did
not fulfil for Chephren the purpose which it ful-
filled for Cheops. But, if Smyth's theory were
true, the Great Pyramid would have fulfilled finally
and for all men the purpose for which it was built.
Since this was manifestly not the case, that theory.
is, I submit, demonstrably erroneous.
It was probably the consideration of this point,
viz. that each king had a pyramid constructed for
himself, which led to the theory that the pyramids
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
15
were intended to serve as tombs. This theory was
once very generally entertained. Thus we find
Humboldt, in his remarks on American pyramids,
referring to the tomb theory of the Egyptian
pyramids as though it were open to no question.
'When we consider,' he says, 'the pyramidical
monuments of Egypt, of Asia, and of the New
Continent, from the same point of view, we see
that, though their form is alike, their destination
was altogether different. The group of pyramids
of Ghizeh and at Sakhara in Egypt; the triangular
pyramid of the Queen of the Scythians, Zarina,
which was a stadium high and three in circum-
ference, and which was decorated with a colossal
figure; the fourteen Etruscan pyramids, which are
said to have been enclosed in the labyrinth of the
king Porsenna, at Clusium-were reared to serve
as the sepulchres of the illustrious dead. Nothing
is more natural to men than to commemorate the
spot where rest the ashes of those whose memory
they cherish, whether it be, as in the infancy of the
race, by simple mounds of earth, or, in later periods,
by the towering height of the tumulus. Those of
the Chinese and of Thibet have only a few metres
of elevation. Farther to the west the dimensions
increase; the tumulus of the king Alyattes, father
of Croesus, in Lydia, was six stadia, and that of
16
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
Ninus was more than ten stadia in diameter. In
the north of Europe the sepulchre of the Scandi-
navian king Gormus, and the queen Daneboda,
covered with mounds of earth, are three hundred
metres broad, and more than thirty high.'
But while we have abundant reason for believ-
ing that in Egypt, even in the days of Cheops
and Chephren, extreme importance was attached
to the character of the place of burial for distin-
guished persons, there is nothing in what is known
respecting earlier Egyptian ideas to suggest the
probability that any monarch would have devoted
many years of his subjects' labour, and vast stores.
of material, to erect a mass of masonry like the
Great Pyramid, solely to receive his own body
after death. Far less have we any reason for sup-
posing that many monarchs in succession would
do this, each having a separate tomb built for him.
It might have been conceivable, had only the
Great Pyramid been erected, that the structure had
been raised as a mausoleum for all the kings and
princes of the dynasty. But it seems utterly in-
credible that such a building as the Great Pyramid
should have been erected for one king's body only
—and that, not in the way described by Humboldt,
when he speaks of men commemorating the spot
where rest the remains of those whose memory
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
17
they cherish, but at the expense of the king him-
self whose body was to be there deposited, Be-
sides, the first pyramid, the one whose history
must be regarded as most significant of the true
purpose of these buildings, was not built by an
Egyptian holding in great favour the special reli-
gious ideas of his people, but by one who had
adopted other views, and those not belonging, so
far as
can be seen, to a people among whom
sepulchral rites were held in exceptional regard.
A still stronger objection against the exclu-
sively tombic theory resides in the fact that this
theory gives no account whatever of the character-
istic features of the pyramids themselves. These
buildings are all, without exception, built on special
astronomical principles. Their square bases are so
placed as to have two sides lying east and west,
and two lying north and south; or, in other words,
so that their four faces front the four cardinal
points. One can imagine no reason why a tomb
should have such a position. It is not, indeed,
easy to understand why any building at all, except
an astronomical observatory, should have such a
position. A temple perhaps devoted to sun-
worship, and generally to the worship of the
heavenly bodies, might be built in that way. For
it is to be noticed that the peculiar figure and
C
18
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
position of the pyramids would bring about the
following relations:-When the sun rose and set
south of the east and west points, or (speaking
generally) between the autumn and the spring
equinoxes, the rays of the rising and setting sun
illuminated the southern face of the pyramid;
whereas during the rest of the year—that is, during
the six months between the spring and autumn
equinoxes-the rays of the rising and setting sun
illuminated the northern face. Again, all the year
round the sun's rays passed from the eastern to
the western face at solar noon. And lastly, during
seven months and a half of each year-namely, for
three months and three quarters before and after
midsummer-the noon rays of the sun fell on all
four faces of the pyramid; or, according to a Peru-
vian expression (so Smyth avers), the sun shone
on the pyramid 'with all his rays.' Such condi-
tions as these might have been regarded as very
suitable for a temple devoted to sun-worship. Yet
the temple theory is as untenable as the tomb
theory. For, in the first place, the pyramid form-
as the pyramids were originally built, with perfectly
smooth slant faces, not terraced into steps, as now,
through the loss of the casing-stones—was entirely
unsuited for all the ordinary requirements of a
temple of worship. And further, this theory gives
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
19
no explanation of the fact that each king built a
pyramid, and each king only one. Similar diffi-
culties oppose the theory that the pyramids were in-
tended to serve solely as astronomical observatories.
For, while their original figure, however manifestly
astronomical in its relations, was quite unsuited
for observatory work, it is manifest that if such
had been the purpose of pyramid-building, so soon
as the Great Pyramid had once been built, no
other would be needed. Certainly none of the
pyramids built afterwards could have subserved
any astronomical purpose which the first did not
subserve, or have subserved nearly so well as the
Great Pyramid those purposes which that build-
ing may be supposed to have fulfilled as an astro-
nomical observatory.
Of the other theories mentioned at the begin-
ning of this paper none seem to merit special
notice, except perhaps the theory that the pyra-
mids were made to receive the royal treasures, and
this theory rather because of the attention it
received from Arabian literati, during the ninth
and tenth centuries, than because of any strong
reasons which can be suggested in its favour.
'Emulating,' says Professor Smyth, 'the enchanted
tales of Bagdad,' the court poets of Al Mamoun
(son of the far-famed Haroun al Raschid) 'drew
C 2
20
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
gorgeous pictures of the contents of the pyramid's
interior. . . . All the treasures of Sheddad Ben
Ad the great Antediluvian king of the earth, with
all his medicines and all his sciences, they declared
were there, told over and over again. Others,
though, were positive that the founder-king was no
other than Saurid Ibn Salhouk, a far greater one
than the other; and these last gave many more
minute particulars, some of which are at least
interesting to us in the present day, as proving
that, amongst the Egypto-Arabians of more than a
thousand years ago the Jeezeh pyramids, headed
by the grand one, enjoyed a pre-eminence of fame
vastly before all the other pyramids of Egypt put
together; and that if any other is alluded to after
the Great Pyramid (which has always been the
notable and favourite one, and chiefly was known.
then as the East pyramid), it is either the second
one at Jeezeh, under the name of the West pyra-
mid; or the third one, distinguished as the
Coloured pyramid, in allusion to its red granite,
compared with the white limestone casings of the
other two (which, moreover, from their more near,
but by no means exact, equality of size, went fre-
quently under the affectionate designation of “the
pair").'
The report of Ibn Abd Alkokm, as to what
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
31
was to be found in each of these three pyramids,
or rather of what, according to him, was put into
them originally by King Saurid, runs as follows:
'In the Western pyramid, thirty treasuries filled.
with store of riches and utensils, and with signa-
tures made of precious stones, and with instru-
ments of iron and vessels of earth, and with arms
which rust not, and with glass which might be
bended and yet not broken, and with strange
spells, and with several kinds of alakakirs (magical
precious stones) single and double, and with deadly
poisons, and with other things besides. He made
also in the East' (the Great Pyramid) 'divers
celestial spheres and stars, and what they severally
operate in their aspects, and the perfumes which
are to be used to them, and the books which treat
of these matters. He put also into the Coloured
pyramid the commentaries of the priests in chests
of black marble, and with every priest a book, in
which the wonders of his profession and of his
actions and of his nature were written, and what
was done in his time, and what is and what shall
be from the beginning of time to the end of it.'
The rest of this worthy's report relates to certain
treasurers placed within these three pyramids to
guard their contents, and (like all or most of what
I have already quoted) was a work of imagination.
22
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
Ibn Abd Alkokm, in fact, was a romancist of the
first water.
Perhaps the strongest argument against the
theory that the pyramids were intended as strong-
holds for the concealment of treasure, resides in the
fact that, search being made, no treasure has been
discovered. When the workmen employed by
Caliph Al Mamoun, after encountering manifold
difficulties, at length broke their way into the great
ascending passage lending to the so-called King's
Chamber, they found a right noble apartment,
thirty-four feet long, seventeen broad, and nine-
teen high, of polished red granite throughout, walls,
floor, and ceiling, in blocks squared and true, and
put together with such exquisite skill that the
joints are barely discernible to the closest inspec-
tion. But where is the treasure-the silver and
the gold, the jewels, medicines, and arms? These
fanatics look wildly around them, but can see
nothing, not a single dirhem anywhere. They
trim their torches, and carry them again and again
to every part of that red-walled, flinty hall, but
without any better success. Nought but pure
polished red granite, in mighty slabs, looks upon
them from every side. The room is
is clean,
garnished too, as it were, and, according to the
ideas of its founders, complete and perfectly ready
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
23
for its visitors so long expected, so long delayed.
But the gross minds who occupy it now, find it all
barren, and declare that there is nothing whatever
for them in the whole extent of the apartment
from one end to another; nothing except an
empty stone chest without a lid.'
It is, however, to be noted that we have no
means of learning what had happened between the
time when the pyramid was built and when Caliph
Al Mamoun's workmen broke their way into the
King's Chamber. The place may, after all, have
contained treasures of some kind; nor, indeed, is
it incompatible with other theories of the pyramid.
to suppose that it was used as a safe receptacle for
treasures. It is certain, however, that this cannot
have been the special purpose for which the pyra-
mids were designed. We should find in such a
purpose no explanation whatever of any of the
most stringent difficulties encountered in dealing
with other theories. There could be no reason
why strangers from the East should be at special
pains to instruct an Egyptian monarch how to
hide and guard his treasures. Nor, if the Great
Pyramid had been intended to receive the treasures
of Cheops, would Chephren have built another for
his own treasures, which must have included those
gathered by Cheops. But, apart from this, how
24
THE GREAT PYRAMID;
inconceivably vast must a treasure-hoard be sup
posed to be, the safe guarding of which would
have repaid the enormous cost of the Great Pyra-
mid in labour and material! And then, why
should a mere treasure-house have the character-
istics of an astronomical observatory? Manifestly,
if the pyramids were used at all to receive trea-
sures, it can only have been as an entirely sub-
ordinate though perhaps convenient means of
utilising these gigantic structures.
Having thus gone through all the suggested
purposes of the pyramids save two or three which
clearly do not possess any claim to serious con-
sideration, and not having found one which appears
to give any sufficient account of the history and
principal features of these buildings, we must
either abandon the inquiry or seek for some ex-
planation quite different from any yet suggested.
Let us consider what are the principal points of
which the true theory of the pyramids should give
an account.
In the first place, the history of the pyramids
shows that the erection of the first great pyramid
was in all probability either suggested to Cheops
by wise men who visited Egypt from the East, or
else some important information conveyed to him
by such visitors caused him to conceive the idea of
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMİDS.
25
building the pyramid. In either case we may
suppose, as the history indeed suggests, that these
learned men, whoever they may have been, re-
mained in Egypt to superintend the erection of the
structure. It may be that the architectural work
was not under their supervision; in fact, it seems
altogether unlikely that shepherd-rulers would
have much to teach the Egyptians in the matter
of architecture. But the astronomical peculiarities
which form so significant a feature of the Great
Pyramid were probably provided for entirely under
the instructions of the shepherd chiefs who had
exerted so strange an influence upon the mind of
King Cheops.
Next, it seems clear that self-interest must have
been the predominant reason in the mind of the
Egyptian king for undertaking this stupendous
work. It is true that his change of religion implies
that some higher cause influenced him.
But a
ruler who could inflict such grievous burdens on
his people, in carrying out his purpose, that for ages
afterwards his name was held in utter detestation,
cannot have been solely or even chiefly influenced
by religious motives. It affords an ample explana-
tion of the behaviour of Cheops, in closing the
temples and forsaking the religion of his country,
to suppose that the advantages which he hoped to
26
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
secure by building the pyramid, depended in some
way on his adopting this course. The visitors from
the East may have refused to give their assistance.
on any other terms, or may have assured him that
the expected benefit could not be obtained if the
pyramid were erected by idolaters. It is certain,
in any case, that they were opposed to idolatry;
and we have thus some means of inferring who they
were and whence they came. We know that one
particular branch of one particular race in the East
was characterised by a most marked hatred of
idolatry in all its forms. Terah and his family, or,
probably, a sect or division of the Chaldæan people,
went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the
land of Canaan-and the reason why they went forth
we learn from a book of considerable historical inte-
rest (the book of Judith) to have been because 'they
would not worship the gods of their fathers who
were in the land of the Chaldæans. The Bible
record shows that members of this branch of the
Chaldæan people visited Egypt from time to time.
They were shepherds, too, which accords well with
the account of Herodotus above quoted. We can
well understand that persons of this family would
have resisted all endeavours to secure their
acquiescence in any scheme associated with idola-
trous rites. Neither promises nor threats would
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMİDS.
27
have had much influence on them. It was a dis-
tinguished member of the family, the patriarch
Abraham, who said: 'I have lifted up mine hand.
unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of
heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread
even to a shoe-latchet, and that I will not take
anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I
have made Abram rich.' Vain would all the
promises and all the threats of Cheops have been
to men of this spirit. Such men might help him
in his plans, suggested, as the history shows, by
teachings of their own, but it must be on their own
conditions, and those conditions would most cer-
tainly include the utter rejection of idolatrous wor-
ship by the king in whose behalf they worked, as
well as by all who shared in their labours. It
seems probable that they convinced both Cheops
and Chephren, that unless these kings gave up
idolatry, the purpose, whatever it was, which the
pyramid was erected to promote, would not be
fulfilled. The mere fact that the Great Pyramid
was built either directly at the suggestion of these
visitors, or because they had persuaded Cheops of
the truth of some important doctrine, shows that
they must have gained great influence over his
mind. Rather we may say that he must have been
so convinced of their knowledge and power as to
28
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
have accepted with unquestioning confidence all
that they told him respecting the particular sub-
ject over which they seemed to possess so perfect
a mastery.
But having formed the opinion, on grounds
sufficiently assured, that the strangers who visited.
Egypt and superintended the building of the Great
Pyramid came from the land of the Chaldæans, it
is not very difficult to decide what was the subject
respecting which they had such exact information.
They were doubtless learned in all the wisdom of
their Chaldæan kinsmen. They were masters, in
fact, of the astronomy of their day, a science for
which the Chaldæans had shown from the earliest
ages the most remarkable aptitude. What the
actual extent of their astronomical knowledge may
have been it would be difficult to say. But it is
certain, from the exact knowledge which later
Chaldæans possessed respecting long astronomical
cycles, that astronomical observations must have
been carried on continuously by that people for
many hundreds of years. It is highly probable
that the astronomical knowledge of the Chaldæans
in or long before the days of Terah and Abraham
was much more accurate than that possessed by the
Greeks even after the time of Hipparchus. We
It has been remarked that, though Hipparchus had the
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
29
see indeed, in the accurate astronomical adjustment
of the Great Pyramid, that the architects must have
been skilful astronomers and mathematicians; and
I may note here, in passing, how strongly this cir-
cumstance confirms the opinion that the visitors
were Chaldæans. All we know from Herodotus
and Manetho, all the evidence from the circum-
stances connected with the religion of the pyramid-
kings, and the astronomical evidence given by the
pyramids themselves, tends to suggest that mem-
bers of that particular branch of the Chaldæan
family which went out from Ur of the Chaldees
because they would not worship the gods of the
Chaldæans, extended their wanderings to Egypt,
and eventually superintended the erection of the
Great Pyramid so far as astronomical and mathe-
matical relations were concerned.
But not only have we already decided that the
pyramids were not intended solely or chiefly to
subserve the purpose of astronomical observatories,
enormous advantage of being able to compare his own observations
with those recorded by the Chaldæans, he estimated the length of
the year less correctly than the Chaldeans. It has been thought
by some that the Chaldæans were acquainted with the true system of
the universe, but I do not know that there are sufficient grounds
for this supposition. Diodorus Siculus and Apollonius Myndius
mention, however, that they were able to predict the return of
comets, and this implies that their observations had been continued
for many centuries with great care and exactness,
30
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
but it is certain that Cheops would not have been
personally much interested in any astronomical in-
formation which these visitors might be able to
communicate. Unless he saw clearly that some-
thing was to be gained from the lore of his visitors,
he would not have undertaken to erect any astro-
nomical buildings at their suggestion, even if he
had cared enough for their knowledge to pay any
attention to them whatever. Most probably the
reply Cheops would have made to any communi-
cations respecting mere astronomy, would have run
much in the style of the reply made by the Turkish
Cadi, Imaum Ali Zadè, to a friend of Layard's who
had apparently bored him about double stars and
comets: 'Oh my soul! oh my lamb!' said Ali
Zadè, 'seek not after the things which concern thee
not. Thou camest unto us, and we welcomed
thee go in peace. Of a truth thou hast spoken
many words; and there is no harm done, for the
speaker is one and the listener is another. After
the fashion of thy people thou hast wandered from
one place to another until thou art happy and con-
tent in none. Listen, oh my son! There is no
wisdom equal unto the belief in God! He created
the world, and shall we liken ourselves unto Him
in seeking to penetrate into the mysteries of His
creation? Shall we say, Behold this star spinneth
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
31
I
round that star, and this other star with a tail goeth
and cometh in so many years! Let it go! He
from whose hand it came will guide and direct it.
But thou wilt say unto me, Stand aside, oh man,
for I am more learned than thou art, and have seen
more things. If thou thinkest that thou art in this.
respect better than I am, thou art welcome.
praise God that I seek not that which I require not.
Thou art learned in the things I care not for; and
as for that which thou hast seen, I defile it. Will
much knowledge create thee a double belly, or wilt
thou seek paradise with thine eyes?' Such,
omitting the references to the
to the Creator, would
probably have been the reply of Cheops to his
visitors, had they only had astronomical facts to
present him with. Or, in the plenitude of his
kingly power, he might have more decisively
rejected their teaching by removing their heads.
But the shepherd-astronomers had knowledge
more attractive to offer than a mere series of
astronomical discoveries. Their ancestors had
Watched from the centres of their sleeping flocks
Those radiant Mercuries, that seemed to move
Carrying through æther in perpetual round
Decrees and resolutions of the gods;
and though the visitors of King Cheops had them-
selves rejected the Sabaistic polytheism of their
32
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
kinsmen, they had not rejected the doctrine that
the stars in their courses affect the fortunes of
men. We know that among the Jews, probably
the direct descendants of the shepherd-chiefs who
visited Cheops, and certainly close kinsmen of
theirs, and akin to them also in their monotheism,
the belief in astrology was never regarded as a
superstition. In fact, we can trace very clearly in
the books relating to this people, that they believed
confidently in the influences of the heavenly bodies.
Doubtless the visitors of King Cheops shared the
belief of their Chaldæan kinsmen that astrology
is a true science, 'founded' indeed (as Bacon ex-
presses their views) 'not in reason and physical
contemplations, but in the direct experience and
observation of past ages.' Josephus records the
Jewish tradition (though not as a tradition but as
a fact) that our first father, Adam, was instructed
in astrology by divine inspiration,' and that Seth
so excelled in the science, that, 'foreseeing the
Flood and the destruction of the world thereby, he
engraved the fundamental principles of his art
(astrology) in hieroglyphical emblems, for the
benefit of after ages, on two pillars of brick and
stone.' He says, farther on, that the Patriarch
Abraham, 'having learned the art in Chaldæa, when
he journeyed into Egypt taught the Egyptians the
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
33
sciences of arithmetic and astrology.'
Indeed,
the stranger called Philitis by Herodotus may, for
aught that appears, have been Abraham himself;
for it is generally agreed that the word Philitis
indicated the race and country of the visitors,
regarded by the Egyptians as of Philistine descent
and arriving from Palestine. However, I am in
no way concerned to show that the shepherd-astro-
nomers who induced Cheops to build the Great
Pyramid were even contemporaries of Abraham
and Melchizedek. What seems sufficiently obvious.
is all that I care to maintain-namely, that these
shepherd-astronomers were of Chaldæan birth and
training, and therefore astrologers, though, unlike
their Chaldæan kinsmen, they rejected Sabaism or
star-worship, and taught the belief in one only
Deity.
Now, if these visitors were astrologers, who
persuaded Cheops, and were honestly convinced
themselves, that they could predict the events of
any man's life by the Chaldæan method of casting
nativities, we can readily understand many circum-
stances connected with the pyramids which have
hitherto seemed inexplicable. The pyramid built
by a king would no longer be regarded as having
reference to his death and burial, but to his birth
D
34
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
and life, though after his death it might receive his
body. Each king would require to have his own
nativity-pyramid, built with due symbolical refe-
rence to the special celestial influences affecting
his fortunes. Every portion of the work would
have to be carried out under special conditions,
determined according to the mysterious influences
ascribed to the different planets and their varying
positions—
Now high, now low, then hid,
Progressive, retrograde, or standing still.
If the work had been intended only to afford
the means of predicting the king's future, the
labour would have been regarded by the monarch
as well bestowed. But astrology involved much
more than the mere prediction of future events.
Astrologers claimed the power of ruling the
planets-that is, of course, not of ruling the mo-
tions of those bodies, but of providing against
evil influences or strengthening good influences
which they supposed the celestial orbs to exert in
particular aspects. Thus we can understand that
while the mere basement layers of the pyramid
would have served for the process of casting the
royal nativity, with due mystic observances, the
further progress of building the pyramid would
supply the necessary means and indications for
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
35
ruling the planets most potent in their influence
upon the royal career.
Remembering the mysterious influence which
astrologers ascribed to special numbers, figures,
positions, and so forth, the care with which the
Great Pyramid was so proportioned as to indicate
particular astronomical and mathematical relations.
is at once explained. The four sides of the square
base were carefully placed with reference to the
cardinal points, precisely like the four sides of the
ordinary square scheme of nativity. The eastern
¹ The language of the modern Zadkiels and Raphaels, though
meaningless and absurd in itself, yet, as assuredly derived from the
astrology of the oldest times, may here be quoted. (It certainly was
not invented to give support to the theory I am at present advocat-
ing.) Thus runs the jargon of the tribe: 'In order to illustrate
plainly to the reader what astrologers mean by the " houses of
heaven,” it is proper for him to bear in mind the four cardinal
points. The eastern, facing the rising sun, has at its centre the
first grand angle or first house, termed the Horoscope or ascendant.
The northern, opposite the region where the sun is at midnight, or the
cusp of the lower heaven or nadir, is the Imum Coeli, and has at its
centre the fourth house. The western, facing the setting sun, has at
its centre the third grand angle or seventh house or descendant. And
lastly, the southern, facing the noonday sun, has at its centre the
astrologer's tenth house, or Mid-heaven, the most powerful angle, or
house of honour.' 'And although,' proceeds the modern astrologer,
we cannot in the ethereal blue discern these lines or terminating
divisions, both reason and experience assure us that they certainly
exist; therefore the astrologer has certain grounds for the choice of
his four angular houses' (out of twelve in all), which, resembling
the palpable demonstration they afford, are in the astral science
esteemed the most powerful of the whole.'-Raphael's Manual of
Astrology.
C
D 2
36
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
side faced the Ascendant, the southern faced the
Mid-heaven, the western faced the Descendant,
and the northern faced the Imum Cæli. Again,
we can understand that the architects would have
made a circuit of the base correspond in length
with the number of days in the year-a relation
which, according to Prof. P. Smyth, is fulfilled in
this manner, that the four sides contain one hun-
dred times as many pyramid inches as there are
days in the year. The pyramid inch, again, is
itself mystically connected with astronomical rela-
tions, for its length is equal to the five hundred
millionth part of the earth's diameter, to a degree
of exactness corresponding well with what we
might expect Chaldæan astronomers to attain.
Prof. Smyth, indeed, believes that it was exactly
equal to that proportion of the earth's polar dia-
meter a view which would correspond with his
theory that the architects of the Great Pyramid
were assisted by divine inspiration; but what is
certainly known about the sacred cubit, which con-
tained twenty-five of these inches, corresponds
better with the diameter which the Chaldæan
astronomers, if they worked very carefully, would
have deduced from observations made in their
own country, on the supposition which they would
naturally have made that the earth is a perfect
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
37
globe, not compressed at the poles. It is not,
indeed, at all certain that the sacred cubit bore any
reference to the earth's dimensions; but this seems
tolerably well made out-that the sacred cubit was
about twenty-five inches in length, and that the
circuit of the pyramid's base contained a hundred
inches for every day of the year. Relations such
as these are precisely what we might expect to
find in buildings having an astrological signifi-
cance. Similarly, it would correspond well with
the mysticism of astrology that the pyramid
should be so proportioned as to make the height
be the radius of a circle whose circumference would
equal the circuit of the pyramid's base. Again,
that long slant tunnel, leading downwards from
the pyramid's northern face, would at once find
a meaning in this astrological theory. The slant
tunnel pointed to the pole-star of Cheops's time
when due north below the true pole of the heavens.
This circumstance had no observational utility. It
could afford no indication of time, because a pole-
star moves very slowly, and the pole-star of
Cheops's day must have been in view through that,
tunnel for more than an hour at a time. But,
apart from the mystical significance which an
astrologer would attribute to such a relation, it
may be shown that this slant tunnel is precisely
38
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
what the astrologer would require in order to get
the horoscope correctly.
Another consideration remains to be mentioned
which, while strengthening the astrological theory
of the pyramids, may bring us even nearer to the
true aim of those who planned and built these
structures.
It is known that the Chaldæans from the
carliest times pursued the study of alchemy in
connection with astrology, not hoping to discover
the philosopher's stone by chemical investigations
alone, but by carrying out such investigations
under special celestial influence. The hope of
achieving this discovery, by which he would at
once have had the means of acquiring illimitable
wealth, would of itself account for the fact that
Cheops expended so much labour and material in
the erection of the Great Pyramid, seeing that, of
necessity, success in the search for the philoso-
pher's stone would be a main feature of his
fortunes, and would therefore be astrologically in-
dicated in his nativity-pyramid, or perhaps even
be secured by following mystical observances
proper for ruling his planets.
The elixir of life may also have been among
the objects which the builders of the pyramids
hoped to discover.
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
39
It may be noticed, as a somewhat significant
circumstance, that, in the account given by Ibn
Abd Alkokm of the contents of the various pyra-
mids, those assigned to the Great Pyramid relate
entirely to astrology and associated mysteries. It
is, of course, clear that Abd Alkokm drew largely
on his imagination. Yet it seems probable that
there was also some basis of tradition for his ideas.
And certainly one would suppose that, as he as-
signed a treasurer to the East pyramid (‘a statue
of black agate, his eyes open and shining, sitting
on a throne with a lance'), he would have credited
the building with treasure also, had not some tra-
dition taught otherwise. But he says that King
Saurid placed in the East pyramid, not treasures,
but 'divers celestial spheres and stars, and what
they severally operate in their aspects, and the
perfumes which are to be used to them, and the
books which treat of these matters.'¹
Arabian writers give the following account of Egyptian pro-
gress in astrology and the mystical arts: Nacrawasch, the progenitor
of Misraim, was the first Egyptian prince, and the first of the
magicians who excelled in astrology and enchantment. Retiring
into Egypt with his family of eighty persons, he built Essous, the
most ancient city of Egypt, and commenced the first dynasty of
Misraimitish princes, who excelled as cabalists, diviners, and in the
mystic arts generally. The most celebrated of the race were
Naerasch, who first represented by images the twelve signs of the
zodiac; Gharnak, who openly described the arts before kept secret ;
Hersall, who first worshipped idols; Sehlouk, who worshipped the
40
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
But, after all, it must be admitted that the
strongest evidence in favour of the astrological
theory of the pyramids is to be found in the
circumstance that all other theories seem un-
tenable. The pyramids were undoubtedly erected
for some purpose which was regarded by their
builders as most important. This purpose cer-
tainly related to the personal fortunes of the
kingly builders. It was worth an enormous outlay
of money, labour, and material. This purpose was
such, furthermore, that each king required to have
his own pyramid. It was in some way associated
with astronomy, for the pyramids are built with
most accurate reference to celestial aspects. It
also had its mathematical and mystical bearings,
seeing that the pyramids exhibit mathematical and
symbolical peculiarities not belonging to their
essentially structural requirements. And lastly,
the erection of the pyramids was in some way
connected with the arrival of certain learned per-
sons from Palestine, and presumably of Chaldæan
origin. All these circumstances accord well with
the theory I have advanced; while only some of
sun; Saurid (King Saurid of Ibn Abd Alkokm's account), who
erected the first pyramids and invented the magic mirror; and
Pharaoh, the last king of the dynasty, whose name was afterwards
Laken as a kingly title, as Cæsar later became a general imperial
title..
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
4i
them, and these not the most characteristic, accord
with any of the other theories. Moreover, no fact
known respecting the pyramids or their builders is
inconsistent with the astrological theory. On the
whole, then, if it cannot be regarded as demon-
strated (in its general bearing, of course, for we
cannot expect any theory about the pyramids to
be established in minute details), the astrological
theory may fairly be described as having a greater
degree of probability in its favour than any
hitherto advanced.
42
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
CHAPTER II.
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID.
DURING the last few years a new sect has ap-
peared which, though as yet small in numbers, is
full of zeal and fervour. The faith professed by
this sect may be called the religion of the Great
Pyramid, the chief article of their creed being the
doctrine that that remarkable edifice was built for
the purpose of revealing-in the fulness of time,
now nearly accomplished - certain noteworthy
truths to the human race. The founder of the
pyramid religion is described by one of the present
leaders of the sect as 'the late worthy John Taylor,
of Gower Street, London ;' but hitherto the chief
prophets of the new faith have been in this country
Professor Smyth, Astronomer Royal for Scotland,
and in France the Abbé Moigno. I propose to
examine here some of the facts most confidently
urged by pyramidalists in support of their views.
But it will be well first to indicate briefly the
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMÍD. 43
doctrines of the new faith. They may be thus
presented :-
The Great Pyramid was erected, it would seem,
under the instructions of a certain Semitic king,
probably no other than Melchizedek. By super-
natural means, the architects were instructed to
place the pyramid in latitude 30° north; to select
for its figure that of a square pyramid, carefully
oriented; to employ for their unit of length the
sacred cubit corresponding to the 20,000,000th
part of the earth's polar axis; and to make the
side of the square base equal to just so many of
these sacred cubits as there are days and parts of a
day in a year. They were further, by supernatural
help, enabled to square the circle, and symbolised
their victory over this problem by making the
pyramid's height bear to the perimeter of the base
the ratio which the radius of a circle bears to the
circumference. Moreover, the great processional
period, in which the earth's axis gyrates like that
of some mighty top around the perpendicular to
the ecliptic, was communicated to the builders with
a degree of accuracy far exceeding that of the best
modern determinations, and they were instructed.
to symbolise that relation in the dimensions of the
pyramid's base. A value of the sun's distance
more accurate by far than modern astronomers have
44
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
obtained (even since the last transit of Venus) was
imparted to them, and they embodied that dimen-
sion in the height of the pyramid. Other results
which modern science has achieved, but which by
merely human means the architects of the pyra-
mid could not have obtained, were also supernatur-
ally communicated to them; so that the true mean
density of the earth, her true shape, the configura-
tion of land and water, the mean temperature of
the earth's surface, and so forth, were either sym-
bolised in the Great Pyramid's position, or in the
shape and dimensions of its exterior and interior.
In the pyramid also were preserved the true,
because supernaturally communicated, standards of
length, area, capacity, weight, density, heat, time,
and money. The pyramid also indicated, by certain
features of its interior structure, that when it was
built the holy influences of the Pleiades were
exerted from a most effective position-the meri-
dian through the points where the ecliptic and
equator intersect. And as the pyramid thus signi-
ficantly refers to the past, so also it indicates the
future history of the earth, especially in showing
when and where the millennium is to begin.
Lastly, the apex or crowning stone of the pyramid
was no other than the antitype of that stone of
stumbling and rock of offence, rejected by builders
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 45
who knew not its true use, until it was finally
placed as the chief stone of the corner. Whence
naturally, 'whosoever shall fall upon it'—that is,
upon the pyramid religion-'shall be broken; but
on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to
powder.'
If we examine the relations actually presented
by the Great Pyramid-its geographical position,
dimensions, shape, and internal structure-without
hampering ourselves with the tenets of the new
faith on the one hand, or on the other with any
serious anxiety to disprove them, we shall find
much to suggest that the builders of the pyramid.
were ingenious mathematicians, who had made.
some progress in astronomy, though not so much
as they had made in the mastery of mechanical
and scientific difficulties.
The first point to be noticed is the geographical
position of the Great Pyramid, so far, at least, as
this position affects the aspect of the heavens,
viewed from the pyramid as from an observatory.
Little importance, I conceive, can be attached to
purely geographical relations in considering the
pyramid's position. Professor Smyth notes that the
pyramid is peculiarly placed with respect to the
mouth of the Nile, standing 'at the southern apex
of the Delta-land of Egypt.' This region being
46
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
shaped like a fan, the pyramid, set at the part cor-
responding to the handle, was, he considers, 'that
monument pure and undefiled in its religion through
an idolatrous land, alluded to by Isaiah; the
monument which was both " an altar to the Lord
in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at
the border thereof," and destined withal to become
a witness in the latter days, and before the consum-
mation of all things, to the same Lord, and to
what He hath purposed upon mankind.' Still
more fanciful are some other notes upon the
pyramid's geographical position: as (i.) that there
is more land along the meridian of the pyramid
than on any other all the world round; (ii.) that
there is more land in the latitude of the pyramid
than in any other; and (iii.) that the pyramid ter-
ritory of Lower Egypt is at the centre of the dry
land habitable by man all the world over.
It does not seem to be noticed by those who
call our attention to these points that such coinci-
dences prove too much. It might be regarded as
not a mere accident that the Great Pyramid stands
at the centre of the arc of shore-line along which lie
the outlets of the Nile; or it might be regarded as
not a mere coincidence that the Great Pyramid
stands at the central point of all the habitable land-
surface of the globe; or again, any one of the other
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 47
relations above mentioned might be regarded as
something more than a mere coincidence. But if,
instead of taking only one or other of these four
relations, we take all four of them, or even any two
of them, together, we must regard peculiarities of
the earth's configuration as the result of special
design which certainly have not hitherto been so
regarded by geographers. For instance, if it was
by special design that the pyramid was placed at
the centre of the Nile delta, and also by special.
design that the pyramid was placed at the centre
of the land-surface of the earth, if these two rela-
tions are each so exactly fulfilled as to render the
idea of mere accidental coincidence inadmissible,
then it follows, of necessity, that it is through no
merely accidental coincidence that the centre of
the Nile delta lies at the centre of the land-surface
of the earth; in other words, the shore-line along
which lie the mouths of the Nile has been
designedly curved so as to have its centre so
placed. And so of the other relations. The very
fact that the four conditions can be fulfilled simul-
taneously is evidence that a coincidence of the sort
may result from mere accident.¹ Indeed, the
i
¹ Of course it may be argued that nothing in the world is the
result of mere accident, and some may assert that even matters
which are commonly regarded as entirely casual have been specially
designed. It would not be easy to draw the precise line dividing
48
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
peculiarity of geographical position which really
seems to have been in the thoughts of the pyramid
architects, introduces yet a fifth condition which,
by accident could be fulfilled along with the four
others :-- -
It would seem that the builders of the pyramid
were anxious to place it in latitude 30°, as closely
as their means of observation permitted. Let us
consider what result they achieved, and the evi-
dence thus afforded respecting their skill and scien-
tific attainments. In our own time, of course, the
astronomer has no difficulty in determining with
great exactness the position of any given latitude-
parallel. But at the time when the Great Pyramid
was built it must have been a matter of very serious
difficulty to determine the position of any required
latitude-parallel with a great degree of exactitude.
The most obvious way of dealing with the difficulty
would have been by observing the length of
shadows thrown by upright posts at noon in spring
and autumn. In latitude 30° north, the sun at
noon in spring (or, to speak precisely, on the day of
the vernal equinox) is just twice as far from the
horizon as he is from the point vertically overhead;
events which all men would regard as to all intents and purposes
accidental from those which some men would regard as results of
special providence. But common sense draws a sufficient distinction,
at least for our present purpose.
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 49
and if a pointed post were set exactly upright at
true noon (supposed to occur at the moment of the
vernal or autumnal equinox), the shadow of the
post would be exactly half as long as a line drawn
from the top of the pole to the end of the shadow.
But observations based on this principle would have
presented many difficulties to the architects of the
pyramid. The sun not being a point of light, but
a globe, the shadow of a pointed rod does not end
in a well-defined point. The moment of true noon,
which is not the same as ordinary or civil noon,
never does agree exactly with the time of the
vernal or autumnal equinox, and may be removed
from it by any interval of time not exceeding
twelve hours. And there are many other circum-
stances which would lead astronomers like those
who doubtless presided over the scientific prepara-
tions for building the Great Pyramid, to prefer a
means of determining the latitude depending on
another principle.
The stellar heavens would
afford practically unchanging indications for their
purpose. The stars being all carried round the
pole of the heavens, as if they were fixed points in
the interior of a hollow revolving sphere, it be-
comes possible to determine the position of the
pole of the star sphere, even though no bright
conspicuous star actually occupies that point. Any
E
50
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
bright star close by the pole is seen to revolve in a
very small circle, whose centre is the pole itself.
Such a star is our present so-called pole-star; and,
though in the days when the Great Pyramid was
built, that star was not near the pole, another, and
probably a brighter star, lay near enough to the
pole to serve as a pole-star, and to indicate by its
circling motion the position of the actual pole of
the heavens. This was at that time, and for many
subsequent centuries, the leading star of the great
constellation called the Dragon.
1
The pole of the heavens, we know, varies in
position according to the latitude of the observer.
At the north pole it is exactly overhead; at the
1 This star, called Thuban from the Arabian al-Thiban, the
Dragon, is now not very bright, being rated at barely above the
fourth magnitude, but it was formerly the brightest star of the con-
stellation, as its name indicates. Bayer also assigned to it the first
letter of the Greek alphabet; though this is not absolutely decisive
evidence that so late as his day it retained its superiority over the
second magnitude stars to which Bayer assigned the second and
third Greek letters. In the year 2790 B. C., or thereabouts, the star
was at its nearest to the true north pole of the heavens, the diameter
of the little circle in which it then moved being considerably less
than one-fourth the apparent diameter of the moon. At that time
the star must have seemed to all ordinary observation an absolutely
fixed centre, round which all the other stars revolved. At the time
when the pyramid was built this star was about sixty times farther
removed from the true pole, revolving in a circle whose apparent
diameter was about seven times as great as the moon's. Yet it
would still be regarded as a very useful pole-star, especially as there
are very few conspicuous stars in its neighbourhood.
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 51
equator the poles of the heavens are both on the
horizon and, as the observer travels from the
equator towards the north or south pole of the
earth, the corresponding pole of the heavens rises.
higher and higher above the horizon. In latitude
30° north, or one-third of the way from the equator
to the pole, the pole of the heavens is raised one-
third of the way from the horizon to the point
vertically overhead; and when this is the case the
observer knows that he is in latitude 30°. The
builders of the Great Pyramid, with the almost con-
stantly clear skies of Egypt, may reasonably be
supposed to have adopted this means of determin-
ing the true position of that thirtieth parallel on
which they appear to have designed to place the
great building they were about to erect.
It so happens that we have the means of form-
ing an opinion on the question whether they used
one method or the other; whether they employed
the sun or the stars to guide them to the geo-
graphical position they required. In fact, were it
not for this circumstance, I should not have
thought it worth while to discuss the qualities of
either method. It will presently be seen that the
discussion bears importantly on the opinion we are
to form of the skill and attainments of the pyra
mid architects.
E 2
52
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
Every celestial object is raised above its true
position by the refractive power of our atmosphere,
being most raised when nearest the horizon and least
when nearest the point vertically overhead. This
effect is so marked on bodies close to the horizon
that if the astronomers of the pyramid times had
observed the sun, moon, and stars attentively when
so placed, they could not have failed to discover
the peculiarity. Probably, however, though they
noted the time of rising and setting of the celestial.
bodies, they only made instrumental observations
upon them when these bodies were high in the
heavens. If so they remained ignorant of the
refractive powers of the air.' Now, if they had
determined the position of the thirtieth parallel of
latitude by observations of the noonday sun (in
spring or autumn), then since, owing to refraction,
they would have judged the sun to be higher than
he really was, it follows that they would have
supposed the latitude of any station from which
they observed to be lower than it really was. For
the lower the latitude the higher is the noonday
sun at any given season. Thus, when really in
latitude 30° they would have supposed themselves
1 Even that skilful astronomer Hipparchus, who may be justly
called the father of observational astronomy, overlooked this
peculiarity, which Ptolemy would seem to have been the first
to recognise.
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 53
in a latitude lower than 30°, and would have
travelled a little farther north to find the proper
place, as they would have supposed, for erecting
the Great Pyramid. On the other hand, if they
determined the place from observations of the
movements of stars near the pole of the heavens,
they would make an error of a precisely opposite
nature. For, the higher the latitude the higher is
the pole of the heavens; and refraction, therefore,
which apparently raises the pole of the heavens,
gives to a station the appearance of being in a
higher latitude than it really is, so that the observer
would consider he was in latitude 30° north when
in reality somewhat south of that latitude. We
have only then to inquire whether the Great Pyra-
mid was set north or south of latitude 30º, to
ascertain whether the pyramid architects observed
the noonday sun or circumpolar stars to determine
their latitude; always assuming (as we reasonably
may) that those architects did propose to set the
pyramid in that particular latitude, and that they
were able to make very accurate observations of
the apparent positions of the celestial bodies, but
that they were not acquainted with the refractive
effects of the atmosphere. The answer comes in
no doubtful terms, The centre of the Great Pyra-
mid's base lies about one mile and a third south of
54
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
the thirtieth parallel of latitude; and from this
position the pole of the heavens, as raised by
refraction, would appear to be very near indeed to
the required position. In fact, if the pyramid had
been set about half a mile still farther south the
pole would have seemed just right.
Of course, such an explanation as I have here
suggested appears altogether heretical to the pyra-
midalists. According to them the pyramid archi-
tects knew perfectly well where the true thirtieth
parallel lay, and knew also all that modern science
has discovered about refraction; but set the pyra-
mid south of the true parallel and north of the
position where refraction would just have made
the apparent elevation of the pole correct, simply
in order that the pyramid might correspond as
nearly as possible to each of two conditions,
whereof both could not be fulfilled at once.
pyramid would indeed, they say, have been set
even more closely midway between the true and
the apparent parallels of 30° north, but that the
Jeezeh hill on which it is set does not afford a rock
foundation any farther north. So very close,'
says Professor Smyth, 'was the great pyramid
placed to the northern brink of its hill, that the
edges of the cliff might have broken off under the
terrible pressure had not the builders banked up
The
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 55
there, most firmly, the immense mounds of rubbish
which came from their work, and which Strabo
looked so particularly for 1,800 years ago, but
could not find. Here they were, however, and still
are, utilised in enabling the Great Pyramid to stand
on the very utmost verge of its commanding hill,
within the limits of the two required latitudes, as
well as over the centre of the land's physical and
radial formation, and at the same time on the sure
and proverbially wise foundation of rock.'
The next circumstance to be noted in the posi-
tion of the Great Pyramid (as of all the pyramids)
is that the sides are carefully oriented. This, like
the approximation to a particular latitude, must
be regarded as an astronomical rather than a geo-
graphical relation. The accuracy with which the
orientation has been effected will serve to show
how far the builders had mastered the methods of
astronomical observation by which orientation was
to be secured. The problem was not so simple
as might be supposed by those who are not
acquainted with the way in which the cardinal
points are correctly determined. By solar obser-
vations, or rather by the observations of shadows
cast by vertical shafts before and after noon, the
direction of the meridian, or north and south line,
can theoretically be ascertained. But probably in
56
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
this case, as in determining the latitude, the
builders took the stars for their guide. The pole
of the heavens would mark the true north; and
equally the pole-star, when below or above the
pole, would give the true north, but, of course,
most conveniently when below the pole. Nor is it
difficult to see how the builders would make use
of the pole-star for this purpose. From the middle
of the northern side of the intended base they
would bore a slant passage tending always from
the position of the pole-star at its lower meridional
passage, that star at each successive return to that
position serving to direct their progress; while its
small range east and west of the pole, would
enable them most accurately to determine the
star's true mid-point below the pole; that is, the
true north. When they had thus obtained a slant.
tunnel pointing truly to the meridian, and had
carried it down to a point nearly below the middle.
of the proposed square base, they could, from the
middle of the base, bore vertically downwards,
until by rough calculation they were near the
lower end of the slant tunnel; or both tunnels
could be made at the same time. Then a subter-
ranean chamber would be opened out from the
slant tunnel. The vertical boring, which need not
be wider than necessary to allow a plumb-line to
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 57
1
be suspended down it, would enable the architects
to determine the point vertically below the point
of suspension. The slant tunnel would give the
direction of the true north, either from that point
or from a point at some known small distance east
or west of that point. Thus, a line from some
ascertained point near the mouth of the vertical
boring to the mouth of the slant tunnel would lie
due north and south, and serve as the required
guide for the orientation of the pyramid's base.
If this base extended beyond the opening of the
slant tunnel, then, by continuing this tunnelling
through the base tiers of the pyramid, the means
would be obtained of correcting the orientation.
This, I say, would be the course naturally
suggested to astronomical architects who had
determined the latitude in the manner described
above. It may even be described as the only very
accurate method available before the telescope had
been invented. So that if the accuracy of the
orientation appears to be greater than could be
obtained by the shadow method, the natural
¹ It would only be by a lucky accident, of course, that the
direction of the slant tunnel's axis and that of the vertical from the
selected central point would lie in the same vertical plane. The
object of the tunnelling would, in fact, be to determine how far
apart the vertical planes through these points lay, and the odds
would be great against the result proving to be zero.
58
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
inference, even in the absence of corroborative evi-
dence, would be that the stellar method, and no
other, had been employed. Now, in 1779, Nouet,
by refined observations, found the error of orienta-
tion measured by less than 20 minutes of arc,
corresponding roughly to a displacement of the
corners by about 37 inches from their true posi-
tion, as supposed to be determined from the
centre; or to a displacement of a southern corner.
by 53 inches on an east and west line from a point
due south of the corresponding northern corner.
This error, for a base length of 9,140 inches, would
not be serious, being only one inch in about five
yards (when estimated in the second way). Yet
the result is not quite worthy of the praise given
to it by Professor Smyth. He himself, however,
by much more exact observations, with an excel-
lent altazimuth, reduced the alleged error from
20 minutes to only 4, or to 9-40ths of its formerly
supposed value. This made the total displace-
ment of a southern corner from the true meridian
through the corresponding northern corner, almost
exactly one foot, or one inch in about twenty-one
yards a degree of accuracy rendering it practi-
cally certain that some stellar method was used in
orienting the base.
Now there is a slanting tunnel occupying pre-
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 59
cisely the position of the tunnel which should,
according to this view, have been formed in order
accurately to orient the pyramid's base, assuming
that the time of the building of the pyramid cor-
responded with one of the epochs when the star
Alpha Draconis was distant 3° 42′ from the pole
of the heavens. In other words, there is a slant
tunnel directed northwards and upwards from a
point deep down below the middle of the pyra-
mid's base, and inclined 26° 17′ to the horizon, the
elevation of Alpha Draconis at its lower culmina-
tion when 3° 42′ from the pole. The last epoch
when the star was thus placed was circiter
2160 B.C.; the epoch next before that was 3440 B.C.
Between these two we should have to choose, on
the hypothesis that the slant tunnel was really
directed to that star when the foundations of the
pyramid were laid. For the next epoch before the
earlier of the two named was about 28000 B.C.,
and the pyramid's date cannot have been more
remote than 4000 B.C.
The slant tunnel, while admirably fulfilling the
requirements suggested, seems altogether unsuited
for any other. Its transverse height (that is, its
width in a direction perpendicular to its upper and
lower faces) did not amount to quite four feet; its
breadth was not quite three feet and a half. It
60
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
was, therefore, not well fitted for an entrance pas-
sage to the subterranean chamber immediately
under the apex of the pyramid (with which
chamber it communicates in the manner suggested
by the above theory). It could not have been
intended to be used for observing meridian transits
of the stars in order to determine sidereal time;
for close circumpolar stars, by reason of their slow
motion, are the least suited of all for such a
purpose. As Professor Smyth says, in arguing
against this suggested use of the star, 'no observer
in his senses, in any existing observatory, when
seeking to obtain the time, would observe the
transit of a circumpolar star for anything else than
to get the direction of the meridian to adjust his
instrument by?' (The italics are his.) It is precisely
such a purpose (the adjustment, however, not of
an instrument, but of the entire structure of the
pyramid itself), that I have suggested for this
remarkable passage this 'cream-white, stone-
lined, long tube,' where it traverses the masonry of
the pyramid, and below that dug through the solid
rock to a distance of more than 350 feet.
Let us next consider the dimensions of the
square base thus carefully placed in latitude 30°
north, to the best of the builders' power, with sides
carefully oriented.
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 61
It seems highly probable that, whatever special
purpose the pyramid was intended to fulfil, a sub-
ordinate idea of the builders would have been to
represent symbolically, in the proportions of the
building, such mathematical and astronomical rela-
tions as they were acquainted with. From what
we know by tradition of the men of the remote
time when the pyramid was built, and what we
can infer from the ideas of those who inherited,
however remotely, the modes of thought of the
earliest astronomers and mathematicians, we can
well believe that they would look with supersti-
tious reverence on special figures, proportions,
numbers, and so forth. Apart from this, they may
have had a quasi-scientific desire to make a lasting
record of their discoveries, and of the collected.
knowledge of their time.
It seems altogether possible, then, that the
smaller unit of measurement used by the builders
of the Great Pyramid was intended, as Professor
Smyth thinks, to be equal to the 500,000,000th
part of the earth's diameter, determined from their
geodetical observations. It was perfectly within
the power of mechanicians and mathematicians so
experienced as they undoubtedly were-the pyra-
mid attests so much-to measure with considerable
accuracy the length of a degree of latitude. They
62
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
could not possibly (always setting aside the theory
of divine inspiration) have known anything about
the compression of the earth's globe, and therefore
could not have intended, as Professor Smyth sup-
poses, to have had the 500,000,000th part of the
earth's polar axis, as distinguished from any other,
for their unit of length. But if they made observa-
tions in or near latitude 30° north on the sup-
position that the earth is a globe, their probable
error would exceed the difference even between
the earth's polar and equatorial diameters. Both
differences are largely exceeded by the range of
difference among the estimates of the actual length
of the sacred cubit, supposed to have contained
twenty-five of these smaller units. And again,
the length of the pyramid base-side, on which
Smyth bases his own estimate of the sacred cubit,
has been variously estimated, the largest measure
being 9,168 inches, and the lowest 9,100 inches.
The fundamental theory of the pyramidalists, that
the sacred cubit was exactly one 20,000,000th part
of the earth's polar diameter, and that the side of
the base contained as many cubits and parts of a
cubit as there are days and parts of a day in the
tropical year (or year of seasons), requires that the
length of the side should be 9,140 inches, lying
between the limits indicated, but still so widely
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 63
removed from either that it would appear very
unsafe to base a theory on the supposition that the
exact length is or was 9,140 inches. If the mea-
sures 9,168 inches and 9,110 inches were inferior,
and several excellent measures made by practised
observers ranged around the length 9,140 inches,
the case would be different. But the best recent
measures gave respectively 9,110 and 9,130 inches;
and Smyth exclaims against the unfairness of Sir
H. James in taking 9,120 as 'therefore the [pro-
bable] true length of the side of the great pyramid
when perfect,' calling this 'a dishonourable shelving
of the honourable older observers with their larger
results.' The only other measures, besides these
two, are two by Colonel Howard Vyse and by the
French savants, giving respectively 9,168 and
9,163'44 inches. The pyramidalists consider 9,140
inches a fair mean value from these four. The
natural inference, however, is, that the pyramid
base is not now in a condition to be satisfactorily
measured; and assuredly no such reliance can be
placed on the mean value 9,140 inches that, on
the strength of it, we should believe what otherwise
would be utterly incredible, viz. that the builders
of the Great Pyramid knew 'both the size and
shape of the earth exactly.' Humanly, or by
human science, finding it out in that age was, of
64
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
course, utterly impossible,' says Professor Smyth.
But he is so confident of the average value derived
from widely conflicting base measures as to assume
that this value, not being humanly discoverable,
was of necessity 'attributable to God and to His
divine inspiration.' We may agree, in fine, with
Smyth, that the builders of the pyramid knew the
earth to be a globe; that they took for their measure
of length the sacred cubit, which, by their earth
measures, they made very fairly approximate to
the 20,000,000th part of the earth's mean diameter;
but there seems no reason whatever for supposing
(even if the supposition were not antecedently of
its very nature inadmissible) that they knew any-
thing about the compression of the earth, or that
they had measured a degree of latitude in their
own place with very wonderful accuracy.¹
It may, perhaps, occur to the reader to inquire what diameter
of the earth, supposed to be a perfect sphere, would be derived from
a degree of latitude measured with absolute accuracy near latitude.
30°. A degree of latitude measured in polar regions would indicate
a diameter greater even than the equatorial; one measured in
equatorial regions would indicate a diameter less even than the polar.
Near latitude 30° the measurement of a degree of latitude would
indicate a diameter very nearly equal to the true polar diameter of the
earth. In fact, if it could be proved that the builders of the pyramid
used for their unit of length an exact subdivision of the polar
diameter, the inference would be that, while the coincidence itself
was merely accidental, their measurement of a degree of latitude in
their own country had been singularly accurate. By an approximate
calculation I find that, taking the earth's compression at 1÷300, the
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 65
But here a very singular coincidence may be
noticed, or rather is forced upon our notice by the
pyramidalists, who strangely enough recognise in
it fresh evidence of design, while the unbeliever
finds in it proof that coincidences are no sure
evidence of design. The side of the pyramid con-
taining 365 times the sacred cubit of 25 pyramid
inches, it follows that the diagonal of the base
contains 12,912 such inches, and the two diagonals
together contain 25,824 pyramid inches, or almost
exactly as many inches as there are years in the
great precessional period. 'No one whatever
amongst men,' says Professor Smyth after record-
ing various estimates of the precessional period,
'from his own or school knowledge, knew anything
about such a phenomenon, until Hipparchus, some
1,900 years after the Great Pyramid's foundation,
had a glimpse of the fact; and yet it had been
ruling the heavens for ages, and was recorded in
Ghizeh's ancient structure.' To minds not moved
to most energetic forgetfulness by the spirit of
faith, it would appear that when a square base had
diameter of the earth, estimated from the accurate measurement of
a degree of latitude in the neighbourhood of the Great Pyramid,
would have made the sacred cubit-taken at one 20,000,000th of
the diameter-equal to 24 98 British inches; a closer approximation
than Professor Smyth's to the estimated mean probable value of the
sacred cubit,
F
66
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
been decided upon, and its dimensions fixed, with
reference to the earth's diameter and the year, the
diagonals of the square base were determined
also; and, if it so chanced that they corresponded
with some other perfectly independent relation,
the fact was not to be credited to the architects.
Moreover it is manifest that the closeness of such
a coincidence suggests grave doubts how far other
coincidences can be relied upon as evidence of
design. It seems, for instance, altogether likely
that the architects of the pyramid took the sacred
cubit equal to one 20,000,000th part of the earth's
diameter for their chief unit of length, and in-
tentionally assigned to the side of the pyramid's
square base a length of just so many cubits as
there are days in the year; and the closeness of
the coincidence between the measured length and
that indicated by this theory strengthens the idea
that this was the builders' purpose. But when we
find that an even closer coincidence immediately
presents itself, which manifestly is a coincidence
only, the force of the evidence before derived from
mere coincidence is pro tanto shaken. For con-
sider what this new coincidence really means.
nature may be thus indicated:-Take the number
of days in the year, multiply that number by 50,
and increase the result in the same degree that the
Its
THE RELIGION of the great PYRAMID. 67
diagonal of a square exceeds the side-then the
resulting number represents very approximately
the number of years in the great precessional
period. The error, according to the best modern
estimates, is about one-575th part of the true
period. This is, of course, a merely accidental
coincidence, for there is no connection whatever in
nature between the earth's period of rotation, the
shape of a square, and the earth's period of gyra-
tion. Yet this merely accidental coincidence is
very much closer than the other supposed to be
designed could be proved to be. It is clear, then,
that mere coincidence is a very unsafe evidence of
design.
Of course the pyramidalists find a ready reply
to such reasoning. They argue that, in the first
place, it may have been by express design that the
period of the earth's rotation was made to bear
this particular relation to the period of gyration in
the mighty precessional movement; which is much.
as though one should say that by express design
the height of Monte Rosa contains as many feet
as there are miles in the 6,000th part of the sun's
distance. Then, they urge, the architects were
1 It is, however, almost impossible to mark any limits to what
may be regarded as evidence of design by a coincidence-hunter. I
quote the following from the late Professor De Morgan's Budget o
Paradoxes. Having mentioned that 7 occurs less frequently than
F 2
68
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
not bound to have a square base for the pyramid;
they might have had an oblong or a triangular
base, and so forth-all which accords very ill with
the enthusiastic language in which the selection
of a square base had on other accounts been
applauded.
Next let us consider the height of the pyramid.
According to the best modern measurements, it
would seem that the height when the pyra-
mid terminated above in a pointed apex, must
have been about 486 feet. And from the com-
parison of the best estimates of the base side with
the best estimates of the height, it seems very
likely indeed that the intention of the builders was
to make the height bear to the perimeter of the
base the same ratio which the radius of a circle
bears to the circumference. Remembering the range
any other digit in the number expressing the ratio of circumference
to diameter of a circle, he proceeds: A correspondent of my friend
Piazzi Smyth notices that 3 is the number of most frequency, and
that 3 is the nearest approximation to it in simple digits. Professor
Smyth, whose work on Egypt is paradox of a very high order,
backed by a great quantity of useful labour, the results of which will
be made available by those who do not receive the paradoxes, is
inclined to see confirmation for some of his theory in these pheno-
mena.' In passing, I may mention as the most singular of these
accidental digit relations which I have yet noticed, that in the first
110 digits of the square root of 2, the number 7 occurs more than
twice as often as either 5 or 9, which each occur eight times, I and 2
occurring each nine times, and 7 occurring no less than eighteen times,
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 69
of difference in the base measures, it might be sup-
posed that the exactness of the approximation to
this ratio could not be determined very satisfac-
torily. But as certain casing stones have been
discovered which indicate with considerable exact-
ness the slope of the original plane-surfaces of the
pyramid, the ratio of the height to the side of the
base may be regarded as much more satisfactorily
determined than the actual value of either dimen-
sion. Of course the pyramidalists claim a degree
of precision indicating a most accurate knowledge
of the ratio between the diameter and the circum-
ference of a circle; and the angle of the only
casing stone measured being diversely estimated
at 51° 50′ and 51° 52', they consider 50° 51′ 14′3″
the true value, and infer that the builders regarded
the ratio as 314159 to 1. The real fact is, that
the modern estimates of the dimensions of the
casing stones (which, by the way, ought to agree
better if these stones are as well made as stated)
indicate the values 3'1439228 and 3.1396740 for
the ratio; and all we can say is, that the ratio
really used lay probably between these limits,
though it may have been outside either. Now the
approximation of either is not remarkably close.
It requires no mathematical knowledge at all to
determine the circumference of a circle much more
70
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
exactly. I thought it very strange,' wrote a
circle-squarer once to De Morgan (Budget of
Paradoxes,' p. 389), 'that so many great scholars
in all ages should have failed in finding the true
ratio, and have been determined to try myself."
'I have been informed,' proceeds De Morgan, 'that
this trial makes the diameter to the circumference
as 64 to 201, giving the ratio equal to 3·1410625
exactly. The result was obtained by the dis-
coverer in three weeks after he first heard of the
existence of the difficulty. This quadrator has
since published a little slip and entered it at
Stationers' Hall. He says he has done it by
actual measurement; and I hear from a private
source that he uses a disc of twelve inches dia-
meter, which he rolls upon a straight rail.' The
'rolling is a very creditable one; it is as much.
below the mark as Archimedes was above it. Its
performer is a joiner who evidently knows well
what he is about when he measures; he is not
wrong by 1 in 3,000.' Such skilful mechanicians
as the builders of the pyramid could have obtained
a closer approximation still by mere measurement.
Besides, as they were manifestly mathematicians,
such an approximation as was obtained by Archi-
medes must have been well within their power;
and that approximation lies within the limits
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 71
above indicated. Professor Smyth remarks that
the ratio was 'a quantity which men in general,
and all human science too, did not begin to trouble
themselves about until long, long ages, languages,
and nations had passed away after the building of
the Great Pyramid; and after the sealing up, too,
of that grand primeval and prehistoric monument
of the patriarchal age of the earth according to
Scripture.' I do not know where the Scripture
records the sealing up of the Great Pyramid; but
it is all but certain that during the very time when
the pyramid was being built astronomical observa-
tions were in progress which, for their interpre-
tation, involved of necessity a continual reference
to the ratio in question. No one who considers
the wonderful accuracy with which, nearly two
thousand years before the Christian era, the Chal-
dæans had determined the famous cycle of the
Saros, can doubt that they must have observed the
heavenly bodies for several centuries before they
could have achieved such a success; and the study
of the motions of the celestial bodies compels
'men to trouble themselves' about the famous
ratio of the circumference to the diameter.
We now come upon a new relation (contained
in the dimensions of the pyramid as thus deter-
mined) which, by a strange coincidence, causes the
72
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
height of the pyramid to appear to symbolise the
distance of the sun. There were 5,813 pyramid
inches, or 5,819 British inches, in the height of the
pyramid according to the relations already indi-
cated. Now, in the sun's distance, according to
an estimate recently adopted and freely used,'
there are 91,400,000 miles, or 5,791 thousand mil-
lions of inches—that is, there are approximately as
many thousand millions of inches in the sun's
distance as there are inches in the height of the
pyramid. If we take the relation as exact we
should infer for the sun's distance 5,819 thousand
millions of inches, or 91,840,000 miles-an im-
mense improvement on the estimate which for so
many years occupied a place of honour in our
books of astronomy. Besides, there is strong
reason for believing that, when the results of
recent observations are worked out, the estimated
sun distance will be much nearer this pyramid
value than even to the value 91,400,000 recently
adopted. This result, which one would have
thought so damaging to faith in the evidence from
coincidence-nay, quite fatal after the other case in
which a close coincidence had appeared by merest
1 I have substituted this value in the article 'Astronomy,' of
the British Encyclopædia, for the estimate formerly used, viz.
95,233,055 miles. But there is good reason for believing that
actual distance is nearly 92,000,000 miles.
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 73
accident-is regarded by the pyramidalists as a
perfect triumph for their faith.
They connect it with another coincidence, viz.
that, assuming the height determined in the way
already indicated, then it so happens that the
height bears to half a diagonal of the base the ratio
9 to 10. Seeing that the perimeter of the base
symbolises the annual motion of the earth round
the sun, while the height represents the radius of a
circle with that perimeter, it follows that the height
should symbolise the sun's distance. That line,
further,' says Professor Smyth (speaking on behalf
of Mr. W. Petrie, the discoverer of this relation),
'must represent' this radius 'in the proportion of
I to 1,000,000,000' (or ten raised to power nine),
'because amongst other reasons 10 to 9 is practi-
cally the shape of the Great Pyramid.' For, this
building has such an angle at the corners, that for
every ten units its structure advances inwards on
the diagonal of the base, it practically rises up-
wards, or points to sunshine' (sic) 'by nine. Nine,
too, out of the ten characteristic parts (viz. five
angles and five sides) being the number of those
parts which the sun shines on in such a shaped
pyramid, in such a latitude near the equator, out of
a high sky, or, as the Peruvians say, when the sun
sets on the pyramid with all its rays.' The coinci-
74
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
dence itself on which this perverse reasoning rests
is a singular one—singular, that is, as showing how
close an
accidental coincidence may run. It
amounts to this, that if the number of days in the
year be multiplied by 100, and a circle be drawn
with a circumference containing 100 times as many
inches as there are days in the year, the radius of
the circle will be very nearly one-1,000,000,000th
part of the sun's distance. Remembering that the
pyramid inch is assumed to be one-500,000,000th
part of the earth's diameter, we shall not be far
from the truth in saying that, as a matter of fact,
the earth by her orbital motion traverses each day
a distance equal to two hundred times her own
diameter. But of course this relation is altogether
accidental. It has no real cause in nature.'
Such relations show that mere numerical coin-
1 It may be matched by other coincidences as remarkable and as
little the result of the operation of any natural law. Take, for instance,
the following strange relation, introducing the dimensions of the sun
himself, nowhere, so far as I have yet seen, introduced among pyra-
mid relations, even by pyramidalists: If the plane of the ecliptic
were a true surface, and the sun were to commence rolling along
that surface towards the part of the earth's orbit where she is at her
mean distance, while the earth commenced rolling upon the sun
(round one of his great circles), each globe turning round in the same
time-then, by the time the earth had rolled its way once round the
sun, the sun would have almost exactly reached the earth's orbit.
This is only another way of saying that the sun's diameter exceeds
the earth's in almost exactly the same degree that the sun's distance
exceeds the sun's diameter.'
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 75
cidences, however close, have little weight as evi-
dence, except where they occur in series. Even
then they require to be very cautiously regarded,
seeing that the history of science records many
instances where the apparent law of a series has
been found to be falsified when the theory has
been extended. Of course this reason is not quoted
in order to throw doubt on the supposition that the
height of the pyramid was intended to symbolise
the sun's distance. That supposition is simply in-
admissible if the hypothesis, according to which the
height was already independently determined in
another way, is admitted. Either hypothesis
might be admitted were we not certain that the
sun's distance could not possibly have been known
to the builders of the pyramid; or both hypotheses
may be rejected; but to admit both is out of the
question.
Considering the multitude of dimensions of
length, surface, capacity, and position, the great
number of shapes, and the variety of material
existing within the pyramid, and considering,
further, the enormous number of relations (pre-
sented by modern science) from among which to
choose, can it be wondered at if fresh coincidences
are being continually recognised? If a dimension
will not serve in one way, use can be found for it in
76
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
another; for instance, if some measure of length
does not correspond closely with any known dimen-
sion of the earth or of the solar system (an unlikely
supposition), then it can be understood to typify an
interval of time. If, even after trying all possible
changes of that kind, no coincidence shows itself
(which is all but impossible), then all that is needed
to secure a coincidence is that the dimensions should
be manipulated a little.
Let a single instance suffice to show how the
pyramidalists (with perfect honesty of purpose)
hunt down a coincidence. The slant tunnel already
described has a transverse height, once no doubt
uniform, now giving various measures from 47'14
pyramid inches to 47:32 inches, so that the vertical
height from the known inclination of the tunnel
would be estimated at somewhere between 52 64
inches and 52.85. Neither dimension corresponds
very obviously with any measured distance in the
earth or solar system. Nor when we try periods,
areas, &c., does any very satisfactory coincidence
present itself. But the difficulty is easily turned
into a new proof of design. Putting all the obser-
vations together (says Professor Smyth), 'I
deduced 47°24 pyramid inches to be the transverse
height of the entrance passage; and computing
from thence with the observed angle of inclination
THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 77
the vertical height, that came out 52.76 of the same.
inches. But the sum of those two heights, or the
height taken up and down, equals 100 inches,
which length, as elsewhere shown, is the general
pyramid linear representation of a day of twenty-
four hours. And the mean of the two heights, or
the height taken one way only, and impartially to
the middle point between them, equals fifty inches;
which quantity is, therefore, the general pyramid
linear representation of only half a day. In which
case, let us ask what the entrance passage has to do
with half rather than a whole day?'
On relations such as these—which, if really
intended by the architect, would imply an utterly
fatuous habit of concealing elaborately what he
desired to symbolise-the pyramidalists base their
belief that a Mighty Intelligence did both think
out the plans for it, and compel unwilling and igno-
rant idolaters, in a primal age of the world, to work
mightily both for the future glory of the one true
God of Revelation, and to establish lasting pro-
phetic testimony touching a further development,
still to take place, of the absolutely Divine Christian
dispensation.'
78
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
CHAPTER III.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
So far as conditions of the soil, surrounding
country, and so forth, are concerned, few positions
could surpass that selected for the Great Pyramid
and its companions. The pyramids of Ghizeh
(fig. 1) are situated on a platform of rock, about
150 feet above the level of the desert. The largest
of them, the pyramid of Cheops, stands on an
elevation free all around, insomuch that less sand
has gathered round it than would otherwise have
been the case. How admirably suited these pyra-
mids are for observing-stations is shown by the
way in which they are themselves seen from a
distance. It has been remarked by every one who
has seen the pyramids that the sense of sight is
deceived in the attempt to appreciate their distance
and magnitude. 'Though removed several leagues
from the spectator, they appear to be close at
hand; and it is not until he has travelled some
miles in a direct line towards them, that he
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
79
becomes sensible of their vast bulk and also of the
pure atmosphere through which they are viewed.'
In all the Egyptian pyramids, there is evidence
of an astronomical plan. In the Great Pyramid we
find evidence that such a plan was carried out with

TOMBS
2
PAGAJ SZTOWUJER-R
W!!!
A
SPHINX
3
4
Szeroka stleTATIIRALPatrikitara
FIG. I.
*SID))WYJERTY))JADE VIVIDNA
Meridian of
Great Pyramid
PLAN OF THE PYRAMIDS OF GHIZEH.
1. Pyramid of Cheops, or Great Pyramid.
2. Pyramid of Chephren, or second pyramid.
3. Pyramid of Mycerinus, or third pyramid.
4. Pyramid of Asychis, or fourth pyramid.
great skill, and with an attention to points of
detail which shows that, for some reason or other,
the edifice was required to be most carefully built
in a special astronomical position. It matters
little at this stage of the inquiry whether we sup-
80
THE GREAT PYRAMID,
pose the pyramid was erected for astronomical
observation or not. It was certainly constructed
in accordance with astronomical observations of
great accuracy, and conducted with great skill.
Moreover, it is obvious that to obtain such ac-
curacy, the building was made to serve, while it
was being built, the purpose of an astronomical
observatory. Just as the astronomer in our own
time uses the instrument he is setting up to adjust
and make exact the position of the masonry on
which it stands, so the builders of the Great Pyra-
mid used the passages which they made within it
to determine, with the greatest accuracy attainable
by them, the proper position of each part of it, up
to the so-called King's Chamber, at least, and pro-
bably higher.
So much is certain. Every feature thus far
discovered in the Great Pyramid corresponds with
this theory, and some features can be explained on
no other.
With regard to their astronomical position, it
seems clear that the builders intended to place
the Great Pyramid precisely in latitude 30°, or, in
other words, in that latitude where the true pole of
the heavens is one-third of the way from the
horizon to the point overhead (the zenith), and
where the noon sun at true spring or autumn
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
SI
(when the sun rises almost exactly in the east, and
sets almost exactly in the west) is two-thirds of
the way from the horizon to the point overhead.
In an observatory set exactly in this position,
some of the calculations or geometrical construc-
tions (as the case may be) involved in astronomical
problems are considerably simplified. The first
problem in Euclid, for example, by which a tri-
angle of three equal sides is made, affords the
means of drawing the proper angle at which the
mid-day sun in spring or autumn is raised above
the horizon, and at which the pole of the heavens
is removed from the point overhead. Relations
depending on this angle are also more readily
calculated, for the very same reason, in fact, that
the angle itself is more readily drawn. And
though the builders of the Great Pyramid must.
have been advanced far beyond the stage at which
any difficulty in dealing directly with other angles
would be involved, yet they would perceive the
great advantage of having one among the angles
entering into their problems thus conveniently
chosen. In our time, when by the use of logarith-
mic and other tables, all calculations are greatly
simplified, and when also astronomers have learned
to recognise that no possible choice of latitude
would simplify their labours (unless an observatory
G
S2
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
could be set up at the North Pole itself, which
would be in other respects inconvenient), matters
of this sort are no longer worth considering, but
to the mathematicians who planned the Great
Pyramid they would have possessed extreme
importance.
To set the centre of the pyramid's future base
in latitude 30°, two methods could be used-the
shadow method, and the pole-star method. If at
noon, at the season when the sun rose due east
and set due west, an upright AC were found to
throw a shadow CD, so proportioned to AC that
A CD would be one-half of an equal-sided triangle,
then, theoretically, the point where this upright
was placed would be in latitude 30°. As a matter
of fact it would not be, because the air, by bending
the sun's rays, throws the sun apparently some-
what above his true position. Apart from this, at
the time of true spring or autumn, the sun does
not seem to rise due east, or set due west, for he is
raised above the horizon by atmospheric refrac-
tion, before he has really reached it in the morning,
and he remains raised above it after he has really
passed below-understanding the word 'really' to
relate to his actual geometrical direction. Thus,
at true spring and autumn, the sun rises to the
north of east and sets slightly to the north of west.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
83
The atmospheric refraction is indeed so marked, as
respects these parts of the sun's apparent course,
that it must have been quickly recognised. Pro-
bably, however, it would be regarded as a pecu-
liarity only affecting the sun when close to the
horizon, and would be (correctly) associated with
his apparent change of shape when so situated.
Astronomers would be prevented in this way from
using the sun's horizontal position
at any season to guide them with
respect to the cardinal points, but
they would still consider the sun,
when raised high above the hori-
zon, as a suitable astronomical
A

B
C
D
FIG. 2.
index (so to speak), and would have no idea
that even at a height of sixty degrees above the
horizon, or seen as in direction D A, fig. 2, he is seen
appreciably above his true position.
Adopting this method-the shadow method-to
fix the latitude of the pyramid's base, they would
conceive the sun was sixty degrees above the hori-
zon at noon, at true spring or autumn, when in
reality he was somewhat below that elevation.
Or, in other words, they would conceive they were
in latitude 30° north, when in reality they were
farther north (the mid-day sun at any season
sinking lower and lower as we travel farther and
G 2
84
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
farther north). The actual amount by which, sup-
posing their observations exact, they would thus
set this station north of its proper position, would
depend on the refractive qualities of the air in
Egypt. But although there is some slight differ-
ence in this respect between Egypt and Green-
wich, it is but small; and we can determine from
the Greenwich refraction tables, within a very
slight limit of error, the amount by which the
architects of the Great Pyramid would have set
the centre of the base north of latitude 30°, if they
had trusted solely to the shadow method. The
distance would have been as nearly as possible
1,125 yards, or say three furlongs.
Now, if they followed the other method, ob-
serving the stars around the pole, in order to
determine the elevation of the true pole of the
heavens, they would be in a similar way exposed
to error arising from the effects of atmospheric
refraction. They would proceed probably some-
what in this wise:-Using any kind of direction-
lines, they would take the altitude of their polar
star (1) when passing immediately under the pole,
and (2) when passing immediately above the pole.
The mean of the altitudes thus obtained would be
the altitude of the true pole of the heavens. Now,
atmospheric refraction affects the stars in the same
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 85
เ
way that it affects the sun, and the nearer a star is
to the horizon, the more it is raised by atmospheric
refraction. The pole-star in both its positions—
that is, when passing below the pole, and when
passing above that point-is raised by refraction,
rather more when below than when above; but
the estimated position of the pole itself, raised by
about the mean of these two effects, is in fact
raised almost exactly as much as it would be if it
were itself directly observed (that is, if a star occu-
pied the pole itself, instead of merely circling close
round the pole). We may then simplify matters
by leaving out of consideration at present all
questions of the actual pole-star in the time of
the pyramid builders, and simply considering how
far they would have set the pyramid's base in
error, if they had determined their latitude by
observing a star occupying the position of the true.
pole of the heavens.
They would have endeavoured to determine
where the pole appears to be raised exactly thirty
degrees above the horizon. But the effect of re-
fraction being to raise every celestial object above
its true position, they would have supposed the
pole to be raised thirty degrees, when in reality it
was less raised than this. In other words, they
would have supposed they were in latitude 30°,
86
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
when, in reality, they were in some lower latitude,
for the pole of the heavens rises higher and higher
above the horizon as we pass to higher and higher
latitudes. Thus they would set their station some-
what to the south of latitude 30°, instead of to the
north, as when they were supposed to have used
the shadow method. Here again we can find how
far they would set it south of that latitude. Using
the Greenwich refraction table (which is the same
as Bessel's), we find that they would have made a
much greater error than when using the other
method, simply because they would be observing a
body at an elevation of about thirty degrees only,
whereas in taking the sun's mid-day altitude in
spring or autumn, they would be observing a body
at twice as great an elevation. The error would
be, in fact, in this case, about 1 mile 1,512 yards.
It seems not at all unlikely that astronomers,
so skilful and ingenious as the builders of the
pyramid manifestly were, would have employed
both methods. In that case they would certainly
have obtained widely discrepant results, rough as
their means and methods must unquestionably
have been, compared with modern instruments and
methods. The exact determination from the
shadow plan would have set them 1,125 yards to
the north of the true latitude; while the exact
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 87
determination from the pole-star method would
have set them 1 mile 1,512 yards south of the true
latitude. Whether they would thus have been led
to detect the effect of atmospheric refraction on
celestial bodies high above the horizon may be
open to question. But certainly they would have
recognised the action of some cause or other,
rendering one or other method, or both methods,
unsatisfactory. If so, and we can scarcely doubt
that this would actually happen (for certainly they
would recognise the theoretical justice of both
methods, and we can hardly imagine that having
two available methods, they would limit their
operations to one method only), they would
scarcely see any better way of proceeding than to
take a position intermediate between the two
which they had thus obtained. Such a position
would lie almost exactly 1,072 yards south of true
latitude 30° north.
Whether the architects of the pyramid of
Cheops really proceeded in this way or not, it is
certain that they obtained a result corresponding
so well with this that if we assume they really did
intend to set the base of the pyramid in lati-
tude 30°, we find it difficult to persuade ourselves
that they did not follow some such course as I
have just indicated the coincidence is so closę
88
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
considering the nature of the observations involved.
According to Professor Piazzi Smyth, whose obser-
vational labours in relation to the Great Pyramid are
worthy of all praise, the centre of the base of this
pyramid lies about 1 mile 568 yards south of the
thirtieth parallel of latitude. This is 944 yards
north of the position they would have deduced
from the pole-star method; I mile 1,693 yards
south of the position they would have deduced
from the shadow method; and 1,256 yards south
of the mean position between the two last named.
The position of the base seems to prove beyond
all possibility of question that the shadow method
was not the method on which sole or chief reliance
was placed, though this method must have been
known to the builders of the pyramid. It does
not, however, prove that the star method was the
only method followed. A distance of 944 yards
is so small in a matter of this sort that we might
fairly enough assume that the position of the base
was determined by the pole-star method. If, how-
ever, we supposed the builders of the pyramid to
have been exceedingly skilful in applying the
methods available to them, we might not unreason-
ably conclude from the position of the pyramid's
base that they used both the shadow method and
the pole-star method, but that, recognising the
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 86
superiority of the latter, they gave greater weight
to the result obtained by employing this method.
Supposing, for instance, they applied the pole-star
method three times as often as the shadow method,
and took the mean of all the results thus obtained,
then the deduced position would lie three times as
far from the northern position obtained by the
shadow method as from the southern position ob-
tained by the pole-star method. In this case their
result, if correctly deduced, would have been only
about 156 yards north of the actual present
position of the centre of the base.
It is impossible, however, to place the least
reliance on any calculation like that made in the
last few lines. By à posteriori reasoning such as
this one can prove almost anything about the
pyramids. For observe, though presented as
à priori reasoning, it is in reality not so, being
based on the observed fact, that the true position
lies more than three times as far from the northerly
limit as from the southern one. Now, if in any
other way, not open to exception, we knew that
the builders of the pyramid used both the sun
method and the star method, with perfect observa-
tional accuracy, but without knowledge of the laws
of atmospheric refraction, we could infer from the
observed position the precise relative weights they
90
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
attached to the two methods. But it is altogether
unsafe, or, to speak plainly, it is in the logical sense
a perfectly vicious manner of reasoning, to ascer-
tain first such relative weights on an assumption
of this kind, and, having so found them, to assert
that the relation thus detected is a probable one in
itself, and that since, when assumed, it accounts
precisely for the observed position of the pyramid,
therefore the pyramid was posited in that way and
no other. It has been by unsound reasoning of
this kind that nine-tenths of the absurdities have
been established on which Mr. Taylor and Professor
Smyth and their followers have established what
may be called the pyramid religion.
All we can fairly assume as probable from the
evidence, in so far as that evidence bears on the
results of à priori considerations, is that the
builders of the Great Pyramid preferred the pole-
star method to the shadow method, as a means of
determining the true position of latitude 30° north.
They seem to have applied this method with great
skill, considering the means at their disposal, if we
suppose that they took no account whatever of the
influence of refraction. If they took refraction
into account at all, they considerably underrated
its influence.
Piazzi Smyth's idea that they knew the precisę
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 91
position of the thirtieth parallel of latitude, and
also the precise position of the parallel, where,
owing to refraction, the pole-star would appear to
be thirty degrees above the horizon, and delibe-
rately set the base of the pyramid between these
limits (not exactly or nearly exactly half way, but
somewhere between them), cannot be entertained
for a moment by any one not prepared to regard
the whole history of the construction of the pyra-
mid as supernatural. My argument, let me note
in passing, is not intended for persons who take
this particular view of the pyramid, a view on
which reasoning could not very well be brought to
bear.
If the star method had been used to determine
the position of the parallel of 30° north latitude,
we may be certain it would be used also to orient
the building. Probably, indeed, the very structures
(temporary, of course) by which the final observa-
tions for the latitude had been made, would remain
available also for the orientation. These structures
would consist of uprights so placed that the line
of sight along their extremities (or along a tube
perhaps borne aloft by them in a slanting posi-
tion) pointed to the pole-star when immediately
below or immediately above the pole. Altogether
the more convenient direction of the two would
92
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
be that towards the pole-star when below the pole.
The extremities of these uprights, or the axis of
the upraised tube, would lie in a north-and-south
line considerably inclined to the horizon, because
the pole itself being thirty degrees above the
horizon, the pole-star, whatever star this might
be, would be high above the horizon even when
exactly under the pole. No star far from the pole
would serve to determine the meridian line of the
pyramid's base, or rather the meridian line corre-
sponding to the position of the underground passage
directed towards the pole-star when immediately
under the pole.
A line at right angles to the meridian line thus
obtained would lie due east and west, and the true
position of the east-and-west line would probably
be better indicated in this way than by direct
observation of the sun or stars. If direct observa-
tion were made at all, it would be made not on
the sun in the horizon near the time of spring
and autumn, for the sun's position is then largely
affected by refraction. The sun might be observed
for this purpose during the summer months, at
moments when calculation showed that he should
be due east or west, or crossing what is technically
termed the prime vertical. Possibly the so-called
azimuth trenches on the east side of the Great
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
93
Pyramid may have been in some way associated
with observations of this sort, as the middle trench
is directed considerably to the north of the east
point, and not far from the direction in which the
sun would rise when about thirty degrees (a favourite
angle with the pyramid architects) past the vernal
equinox. But I lay no stress on this point. The
meridian line obtained from the underground
passage would have given the builders so ready a
means of determining accurately the east-and-west
lines for the north-and-south edges of the pyra-
mid's base, that any other observations for this
purpose can hardly have been more than sub-
sidiary. They could in the first place set up a
pointed upright, as A B in fig. 3, at the middle of
the northern edge of the base, and another shorter
one, C D, so that at one of the epochs, it would not
matter which, an eye placed as at E would see the
points C and E in the same straight line as the pole-
star S. Then the line D B would lie north and
south.
This would only be a first rough approximation,
however. The builders would require a much more
satisfactory north-and-south line than D B. At
this stage of proceedings, what could be more
perfect as a method of obtaining the true bearing
of the pole than to dig a tubular hole into the solid
94
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
·
rock, along which tube the pole-star at its lower
culmination should be. visible? Perfect stability
would be thus ensured for this fundamental direc-
tion-line. It would be easy to obtain the direction
with great accuracy, even though at first starting
the borings were not quite correctly made. And
the farther the boring was continued downwards
towards the south, the greater the accuracy of the
direction-line thus obtained. Of course there could
be no question whatever in such underground
boring of the advantage of taking the lower passage
of the pole-star, not the upper. For a line directly
from the star at its upper passage would slant
downwards at an angle of more than thirty degrees
from the horizon, while a line directly from the
star at its lower passage would slant downwards at
an angle of less than thirty degrees; and the
smaller this angle the less would be the length and
the less the depth of the boring required for any
given horizontal range.
Besides perfect stability, a boring through the
solid rock would present another most important
advantage over any other method of orienting the
base of the pyramid. In the case of an inclined
direction-line above the level of the horizontal base,
there would be the difficulty of determining the
precise position of points under the raised line; for
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMİDS.
95
manifest difficulties would arise in letting fall
plumb-lines from various points along the optical
axis of a raised tubing. But nothing could be
simpler than the plan by which the horizontal line
corresponding to the underground tube would be
determined.
To obtain this, they would bore a slant passage
in the solid rock, as D G, which should point

C
E
South
F
G
G
A
North
B
*
Ꮄ
FIG. 3.
SHOWING HOW THE BUILDERS OF THE PYRAMID PROBABLY
OBTAINED THEIR BASE.
directly to the pole-star s when due north, starting
their boring by reference to the rough north-and-
south line D B, but guiding it as they went on by
noticing whether the pole-star, when due north,
remained visible along the passage. But they
·
would now have to make a selection between its
passage above the pole and its passage below the
pole. In using the uprights D and B, they could
96
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
take either the upper or the lower passage; but the
underground boring could have but one direction,
and they must choose whichever of the two passages
of the star they preferred. As already remarked they
would take the lower passage, not only as the more
convenient passage for observation, but because the
length of their boring D G would be less, for a given
horizontal range F D, if the lower passage of the
stars were taken, than it would be for the upper
passage, when its direction would be as D Gʻ.
When they had bored far enough down to have
a sufficient horizontal range F D (the longer this
range, of course, the truer the north-and-south
direction), they would still have to ascertain the
true position of F, the point vertically above G.
For this purpose they would get F first as truly as
they could from the line D B prolonged, and would
bore down from F vertically (guiding the boring, of
course, with a plumb-line) until they reached the
space opened out at G. The boring F G might be
of very small diameter. Noting where the plumb-
line let down from F to G reached the floor of the
space G, they would ascertain how far F lay to the
east or to the west of its proper position over the
centre of the floor of this space. Correcting the
position of F accordingly, they would have F D the
true north-and-south line.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
97
This method could give results of considerable
accuracy; and it is the only method, in fact, which
could do so. When, therefore, we find that the
base of the pyramid is oriented with singular
accuracy, and secondly that just such a boring ast
D G exists beneath the base of the pyramid,
running three hundred and fifty feet through the
solid rock on which the pyramid is built, we cannot
well refuse to believe that the slant passage was
bored for this purpose, which it was so well fitted
to subserve, and which has been so well subserved
in some way.
In all the pyramids of Ghizeh, indeed, there is
such a tunnelling as we might expect on almost
any theory of the relation of the smaller pyramids
to the great one. But the slant tunnel under the
great pyramid is constructed with far greater skill
and care than have been bestowed on the tunnels
under the other pyramids. Its length underground
amounts to more than 350 feet, so that, viewed
from the bottom, the mouth, about four feet across
from top to bottom on the square, would give a
sky range of rather less than one-third of a degree,
or about one-fourth more than the moon's apparent
diameter. But of course there was nothing to
prevent the observers who used this tube from
greatly narrowing these limits by using diaphragms,
H
98
THE GREAT PYRAMID,
one covering up all the mouth of the tube, except
a small opening near the centre, and another cor-
respondingly occupying the lower part of the tube
from which the observation was made.
It seems satisfactorily made out that the object
of the slant tunnel, which runs 350 feet through the
rock on which the pyramid is built, was to observe
the Pole-star of the period at its lower culmination,
to obtain thence the true direction of the north
point. The slow motion of a star very near the
pole would cause any error in time, when this
observation was made, to be of very little impor-
tance, though we can understand that even such
observations as these would remind the builders of
the pyramid of the absolute necessity of good time-
measurements and time-observations in astronomi-
cal research.
If this opinion is adopted, and for my own part
I cannot see how it can well be questioned, we
cannot possibly accept the opinion that the slant
tunnel was bored for another purpose solely, or
even chiefly, unless it can be shown that that other
purpose in the first place was essential to the plans
of the builders, in the second place could be sub-
served in no other way so well, and in the third
place was manifestly subserved in this way to the
knowledge of those who made the slant borings.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
99
Finding this point clearly made out, we can
fairly use the observed direction of the inclined
passage to determine what was the position of the
Pole-star at the time when the foundations of the
great pyramid were laid, and even what that Pole-
star may have been. On this point there has never
been much doubt, though considerable doubt exists
as to the exact epoch when the star occupied the
position in question. According to the observa-
tions made by Professor Smyth, the entrance
passage has a slope of about 26° 27′, which would
have corresponded, when refraction is taken into
account, to the elevation of the star observed
through the passage, at an angle of about 26° 29′
above the horizon. The true latitude of the pyra-
mid being 29° 58′ 51″, corresponding to an eleva-
tion of the true pole of the heavens by about
30° above the horizon, it follows that if Professor
Smyth obtained the true angle for the entrance
passage, the Pole-star must have been about
3° 31 from the pole. Smyth himself considers
that we ought to infer the angle for the entrance
passage from that of other internal passages,
presently to be mentioned, which he thinks were
manifestly intended to be at the same angle of in-
clination, though directed southwards instead of
northwards. Assuming this to be the case, though
H 2
100
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
for my own part I cannot see why we should do so
(most certainly we have no à priori reason for so
doing), we should have 26° 18' as about the required.
angle of inclination, whence we should get about
3° 42' for the distance of the Pole-star of the руга-
mid's time from the true pole of the heavens. The
difference may seem of very slight importance, and
I note that Professor Smyth passes it over as if it
really were unimportant; but in reality it corre-
sponds to somewhat large time-differences.
In the year 2170 B.C., and again (last before
that) in the year 3350 B.C., and also for several
years on either side of those dates, a certain bright
star did look down that boring, or, more precisely,
could be seen by any one who looked up that bor-
ing, when the star was just below the pole in its cir-
cuit round that point. The star was a very impor-
tant one among the old constellations, though it has
since considerably faded in lustre, being no other
than the star Alpha of the constellation the Dragon,
which formerly was the polar constellation. For
hundreds of years before and after the dates 3350
and 2170 B.C., and during the entire interval between
those dates, no other star would at all have suited
the purposes of the builders of the pyramid; so that
we may be tolerably sure this was the star they
employed. Therefore the boring, when first made,
•
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. fot
must have been directed towards this star. We
conclude, then, with considerable confidence, that it
was somewhere about one of the two dates 3350
B.C., and 2170 B.C., that the erection of the great
pyramid was begun. And from the researches of
Egyptologists it has become all but certain that the
earlier of these dates is very near the correct epoch.
But though the boring thus serves the purpose of
dating the pyramid, it seems altogether unlikely
that the builders of the pyramid intended to record
the pyramid's age in this way. They could have
done that, if they had wanted to, at once far more
easily and far more exactly, by carving a suitable
record in one of the inner chambers of the building.
But nothing yet known about the pyramid suggests
that its builder wanted to tell future ages anything
whatever. So far from this, the pyramid was care-
fully planned to reveal nothing. Only when men
had first destroyed the casing, next had found their
way into the descending passage, and then had, in
the roughest and least skilful manner conceivable
(even so, too, by an accident), discovered the great
ascending gallery, were any of the secrets of this
mighty tomb revealed - for a tomb and nothing
else it has been ever since Cheops died. To assert
that all these events lay within the view of the
architect who seemed so carefully to endeavour to
102
THE GREAŤ PÝRAMİD.
render them impossible, is to ask that men should
set their reasoning faculties on one side when the
pyramid is in question. And lastly, we have not a
particle of evidence to show that the builders of the
pyramid had any idea that the date of the building
would be indicated by the position of the great slant
passages. They may have noticed that the Pole-
star was slowly changing its position with respect
to the true pole of the heavens; and they may
even have recognised the rate and direction in which
the Pole-star was thus moving. But it is utterly
unlikely that they could have detected the fact that
the pole of the heavens circles round the pole of the
ecliptic in the mighty precessional period of
25,920 years; and unless they knew this, they
1
¹ If the architect of the great pyramid knew anything about the
great precessional period, then - unless such knowledge was mi-
raculously communicated-the astronomers of the pyramid's time
must have had evidence which could only have been obtained during
many hundreds of years of exact observation, following of course
on a long period during which comparatively imperfect astronomi-
cal methods were employed. Their astronomy must therefore have
had its origin long before the date commonly assigned to the Flood.
In passing I may remark that in a paper on the pyramid by Abbé
Moigno, that worthy but somewhat credulous ecclesiastic makes a
remark which seems to show that the stability and perfection of the
great pyramid, and therefore the architectural skill acquired by the,
Egyptians in the year 2170 B.C. (a date he accepts), proves in some
unexplained way the comparative youth of the human race.
most men it would seem that the more perfect men's work at any
given date, the longer must have been the preceding interval during
which men were acquiring the skill thus displayed. On the con-
To
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 103
would not know that the position of the slant
passage would tell future generations aught about
the pyramid's date. On all these accounts (1)
because the builders probably did not care at all
about our knowing anything on the subject, (2)
because if they did they would not have adopted so
clumsy a method, and (3) because there is no reason
for believing, but every reason for doubting, that
they knew the passage would tell future ages the
date of the pyramid's erection, we must regard as
utterly improbable, if not utterly untenable, the
proposition that the builders had any such purpose
in view in constructing the slant passage.
I am therefore somewhat surprised to find Sir
E. Beckett, who does not accept the wild ideas of
the pyramid religionists, nevertheless dwelling, not
on the manifest value of the slant passages to
builders desiring to orient such an edifice as the
great pyramid, but on the idea that those builders.
may have wanted to record a date for the benefit of
future ages. After quoting a remark from Mr.
Wackerbarth's amusing review of Smyth's book, to
the effect that the hypothesis about the slant
trary, the pyramids, says Abbé Moigno, 'give the most solemn
contradiction to those who would of set purpose throw back the
origin of man to an indefinite remoteness.' It would have been
well if he had explained how the pyramids do this.
104
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
passage is liable to the objection that, the mouth
of the passage being walled up, it is not easy to
conceive how a star could be observed through it,
Beckett says, 'Certainly not, after it was closed;
but what has that to do with the question whether
the builders thought fit to indicate the date to any-
one who might in after ages find the passage, by
reference to the celestial dial, in which the pole of
the earth travels round the pole of the ecliptic in
25,827 years, like the hand of a clock round the
dial?' But in reality there is no more extravagant
supposition among all those ideas of the pyramid-
alists (which Beckett justly regards as among the
wildest illustration of 'the province of the imagina-
tion in science') than the notion that this motion of
the pole of the earth was known to the builders of
the pyramid, or that, knowing it, they adopted so
preposterous a method of indicating the date of
their labours.
Let us return to the purposes which seem to
have been actually present in the minds of the
pyramid builders.
Having duly laid down the north-and-south
line F D, in fig. 5, and being thus ready to cut out
from the nearly level face of the solid rock the
corner sockets of the square base, they would have
to choose what size they would give the base. This
THE PROÊLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 105
would be a question depending partly on the nature
of the ground at their disposal, partly on the expense
to which King Cheops was prepared to go. The
question of expense probably did not influence him
much; but it requires only a brief inspection of the
region at his disposal (in the required latitude, and
on a firm rock basis) to see that the nature of the
ground set definite limits to the base of the build-
ing he proposed to erect. As Piazzi Smyth re-
marks, it is set close to the very verge of the
elevated plateau, even dangerously near its edge.
Assuming the centre of the base determined by the
latitude observations outside, the limit of the size
of the base was determined at once. And apart
from that, the hill country directly to the south of
the great pyramid would not have permitted any
considerable extension in that direction, while on
the east and west of its present position the plateau
does not extend so far north as in the longitude
actually occupied by the pyramid.
These considerations probably had quite as
much to do with the selection of the dimensions of
the base as any that have been hitherto insisted
upon. Sir E. Beckett says, after showing that the
actual size of the base was in other respects a con-
venient one (in its numerical relation to previous
measures), the great pyramid 'must be some size,'
106
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
(
but why Cheops wanted his pyramid to be about'
its actual size he does not profess to know. Yet, if
the latitude of the centre of the base were really
determined very carefully, it is clear that the
nearest, and in this case the northern, verge of the
rock plateau would limit the size of the base; and
we may say that the size selected was the largest
which was available, subject to the conditions
respecting latitude. True, the latitude is not cor-
rectly determined; but we may fairly assume it
was meant to be, and that the actual centre of the
base was supposed by the builders to lie exactly in
latitude 30 degrees north.
However, we may admit that the dimensions
adopted were such as the builders considered con-
venient also. I fear Sir E. Beckett's explanation
on this point, simple and commonplace though it is,
is preferable to Professor Smyth's. If, by the way,
the latter were right, not only in his views, but in
the importance he attaches to them, it would be no
mere façon de parler to say 'I fear;' for a rather
unpleasant fate awaits all who 'shorten the cubit' as
Sir E. Beckett does. 'I will not attempt,' says
Professor Smyth, 'to say what the ancient Egyp-
tians would have thought' of certain 'whose car-
riages,' it seems, 'try to stop the way of great
pyramid research,' ' for I am horrified to remember
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 107
the Pharaonic pictures of human souls sent back
from heaven to earth, in the bodies of pigs, for far
lighter offences than shortening the national cubit.'.
Sir E. Beckett has sought to shorten the pyramid
cubit, which with Smyth is 'the sacred, Hebrew
earth-commensurable, anti-Canite cubit,' a far
heavier offence probably than merely 'shortening
the national cubit.' But after all, it is unfortunately
too true, that if the shorter cubit which Beckett
holds to have been used by the pyramid builders
was not so used, the pyramid does its best to sug-
gest that it was; and if Beckett and those who
follow him (as I do in this respect) are wrong, the
pyramid and not they must be blamed. For, apart
from the trifling detail that the Hebrew cubit of
25 inches is entirely imaginary, 'neither this cubit,
nor any multiple of it, is to be found in a single one
of all Mr. Smyth's multitude of measurements,
except two evidently accidental multiples of it in
the diagonals of two of the four corner sɔckets in
the rock; which are not even square, and could
never have been seen again after the pyramid was
built, if the superstructure had not been broken up
and stolen, which was probably the last thing that
Cheops or his architect expected.' But of the
other cubit, 'the pyramid and the famous marble
"Coffer," in the king's chamber (which was doubt-
168
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
less also Cheops's coffin until his body was "resur-
rectionised" by the thieves who first broke into the
pyramid), do contain clear indications.' The cubit
referred to is the working cubit of 203 inches, or
about a fiftieth of an inch less. For a person of
average height, it is equal to about the distance
from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, plus
a hand's-breadth, the former distance being the
natural cubit (for a person of such height). The
natural cubit is as nearly as possible half-a-yard,
and most probably our yard measure is derived
from this shorter cubit. The working cubit may be
regarded as a long half-yard, the double working
cubit or working Egyptian yard measure, so to
speak, being 41½ inches long.
The length of the base-circuit of the great pyra-
mid may be most easily remembered by noticing
that it contains as many working cubits as our mile
contains yards, viz., 1,760; giving 440 cubits as the
length of each of the four sides of the base. If
Lincoln's Inn Fields were enlarged to a square
having its sides equal to the greatest sides of the
present Fields, the area of this, the largest 'square'
in London, would be almost exactly equal to that
of the pyramid's base-or about 13 acres. The
front of Chelsea Hospital has almost the same
length as a side of the pyramid's base, so also has
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 109
the frontage of the British Museum, including the
houses on either side to Charlotte Street and Mon-
tague Street. The average breadth of the Thames
between Chelsea and London Bridge, or, in other
words, the average span of the metropolitan
bridges, is also not very different from the length
of each side of the great pyramid's base. The length
measures about 761 feet, or nearly 254 yards. Each
side is in fact a furlong of 220 double cubits or
Egyptian yards.
The height of the pyramid is equal to seven-
elevenths of the side of the base, or to 280 cubits,
or about 484 feet. This is about 16 feet higher
than the top of Strasburg Cathedral, 24 feet higher
than St. Peter's at Rome, and is about 130 feet
higher than our St. Paul's.
These are all the dimensions of the pyramid's
exterior I here propose to mention. Sir E. Beckett.
gives a number of others, some of considerable
interest, but of course all derivable from the fact
that the pyramid has a square base 440 cubits in
the side, and has a height of 280 cubits.
I may
notice, however, in passing, that I quite agree with
him in thinking that the special mathematical rela-
tion which the pyramid builders intended to em-
body in the building was this, that the area of each
of the four faces should be equal to a square having
110
THE GREAT PYRAMID. ·
its sides equal to the height of the pyramid.
Herodotus tells us that this was the condition
which the builders adopted; and this condition is
fulfilled at least as closely as any of the other more
or less fanciful relations which have been recog-
nised by Taylor and his followers.
Having their base properly oriented, and being
about to erect the building itself, the architects
would certainly not have closed the mouth of the
slant tunnel pointing northwards, but would have
carried the passage onwards through the basement
layers of the edifice, until these had reached the
height corresponding to the place where the pro-
longation of the passage would meet the slanting
north face of the building. I incline to think that
at this place they would not be content to allow
the north face to remain in steps, but would fit in
casing stones (not necessarily those which would
eventually form the slant surface of the pyramid,
but more probably slanted so as to be perpendi-
cular to the axis of the ascending passage). They
would probably cut a square aperture through such
slant stones corresponding to the size of the pas-
sage elsewhere, so as to make the four surfaces of
the passage perfectly plane from its greatest depth
below the base of the pyramid to its aperture,
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS, III
close to the surface to be formed eventually by the
casing stones of the pyramid itself.
Now, in this part of his work, the astronomical
architect could scarcely fail to take into account
the circumstance that the inclined passage, how-
ever convenient as bearing upon a bright star near
the pole when that star was due north, was, never-
theless, not coincident in direction with the true
polar axis of the celestial sphere. I cannot but
think he would in some way mark the position of
their true polar axis. And the natural way of
marking it would be to indicate where the passage
of his Pole-star above the pole ceased to be visible
through the slant tube. In other words he would
mark where a line from the middle of the lowest
face of the inclined passage to the middle of the
upper edge of the mouth was inclined by twice
the angle 3° 42′ to the axis of the passage. To
an eye placed on the optical axis of the passage,
at this distance from the mouth the middle of the
upper edge of the mouth would (quam proximè)
show the place of the true pole of the heavens.
It certainly is a singular coincidence that at the
part of the tube where this condition would be
fulfilled, there is a peculiarity in the construction
of the entrance passage, which has been indeed
112
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
otherwise explained, but I shall leave the reader to
determine whether the other explanation is alto-
gether a likely one. The feature is described by
Smyth as 'a most singular portion of the passage
—viz. a place where two adjacent wall-joints, simi-
lar, too, on either side of the passage, were vertical
or nearly so; while every other wall-joint, both
above and below, was rectangular to the length of
the passage, and, therefore, largely inclined to the
vertical.' Now I take the mean of Smyth's deter-
minations of the transverse height of the entrance
passage as 47:23 inches (the extreme values are
47.14 and 47°32), and I find that, from a point on
the floor of the entrance passage, this transverse
height would subtend an angle of 7° 24′ (the range
of Alpha Draconis in altitude when on the meri-
dian) at a distance 363.65 inches from the trans-
verse mouth of the passage. Taking this distance
from Smyth's' scale in Plate xvii. of his work on
the pyramid ('Our Inheritance in the Great Pyra-
mid'), I find that, if measured along the base of
the entrance passage from the lowest edge of the
vertical stone, it falls exactly upon the spot where
he has marked in the probable outline of the un-
cased pyramid, while, if measured from the upper
edge of the same stone, it falls just about as far
within the outline of the cased pyramid as we
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 113
should expect the outer edge of a sloped end
stone to the tunnel to have lain.
It may be said that from the floor of the
entrance passage no star could have been seen,
because no eye could be placed there. But the
builders of the pyramid cannot reasonably be sup-
posed to have been ignorant of the simple pro-
perties of plane mirrors, and by simply placing a
thin piece of polished metal upon the floor at this
spot, and noting where they could see the star and
the upper edge of the tunnel's mouth in contact
by reflection in this mirror, they could determine
precisely where the star could be seen touching
that edge, by an eye placed (were that possible)
precisely in the plane of the floor.
I have said there is another explanation of
this peculiarity in the entrance passage, but I
should rather have said there is another explana-
tion of a line marked on the stone next below the
vertical one. I should imagine this line, which is
nothing more than a mark such as might be ruled
with a blunt steel instrument, but by a master
hand for power, evenness, straightness, and still
more for rectangularity to the passage axis,' was a
mere sign to show where the upright stone was to
But Professor Smyth, who gives no expla-
nation of the upright stone itself, except that it
come.
I
114
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
seems, from its upright position, to have had 'some-
thing representative of setting up, or preparation
for the erecting of a building,' believes that the
mark is as many inches from the mouth of the
tunnel as there were years between the dispersal of
man and the building of the pyramid; that thence.
downwards to the place where an ascending pas-
sage begins, marks in like manner the number
of years which were to follow before the exodus ;
thence along the ascending passage to the begin-
ning of the great gallery the number of years from
the exodus to the coming of Christ; and thence
along the floor of the grand gallery to its end, the
interval between the first coming of Christ and
the second coming, or the end of the world, which it
appears was to have taken place in the year 1881.
It is true not one of these intervals accords with the
dates given by those who are considered the best
authorities in Biblical matters,--but so much the
worse for the dates.
To return to the pyramid.
But what special purpose had the architect in
view, as he planned the addition of layer after layer
of the pyramidal structure? So far as the mere
orienting of the faces of the pyramid was concerned,
he had achieved his purpose so soon as he had
obtained, by means of the inclined passage, the
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 115
?
true direction of the north and south lines. But
assuming that his purpose was to provide in some
way for astronomical observation, a square base
with sides facing the cardinal points would not be
of much use. It would clearly give horizontal
direction-lines, north and south, east and west,
north-east and south-west, and north-west and
south-east. For if observers
were set at the four corners, A,
B, C, D, as in fig. 4, with suitable
uprights, where dots are shown
at these corners, a line of sight
from D's upright to A's would D
be directed towards the south,
A
East
South
North
FIG. 4.
B

West
C
from the same upright to B's would be directed
towards the south-west, and from the same to C's
would be directed towards the west. Lines of sight
from the other three uprights to each of the re-
maining ones would give the other directions named,
or eight directions in all round the horizon.
The only possible way in which the pyramid
could have been oriented so accurately as it has
been, was by stellar observations. Of all observa-
tions for that purpose, those made on the pole-star
of the time would have been the most effective. If
there is a star which the astronomer observes less
than another when using his observatory for that
I 2
116
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
chief of all purposes to which a great public obser-
vatory, at any rate, can be applied, it is the pole-
star, simply because that star moves so slowly
round its small circle. But for determining the
direction of the true north point (and also for deter-
mining latitude) the pole-star is invaluable. No
astronomer who thinks over the problem at all, can
fail to see that the builder of the Great Pyramid
would have been driven by the requirements of his
case to make just such a slant descending passage
as that which opens out (now that the casing-
stones have been removed) on the northern side of
the pyramid, not far above its base. It is equally
certain that such a descending passage would have
been directed to the position of the pole-star when
it was due north and at its lowest. The position
of the pole-star when exactly above the pole would
have been just as well suited for determining the
direction of the true north, but the slant passage
would have had to run deeper down into the solid.
rock to give the same degree of accuracy, and the
extra labour would have been wasted.
When, after marking the position of the base,
the question of obtaining the true level came to be
considered, only one method effective enough to
give the required accuracy would have been avail-
ableviz, the use of water, flooding the squared
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 117
space cut out in the solid rock. A difficult and
costly task, doubtless, in itself, but a mere nothing
considered with reference to the labour and cost to
which the builders were prepared to go. For this
purpose, the descending passage would have to be
temporarily plugged; and as soon as the water-
level had been marked at several stations on each
side of the base, the plug could be removed, and the
water run off into the pit which had been exca-
vated underneath. A depth of a few inches of
water all over the base would have sufficed for this
purpose, but more probably a mere channel all
round the base was prepared.
After thus orienting the base by aid of the
pole-star, and levelling it by using a property of
liquids which was, of course, well known to them,
the architects would place layer after layer, carry-
ing towards the north the passage for observing the
pole-star, so that as each layer was placed, the
work of orienting, and possibly of levelling, might
be repeated, and an ever-increasing exactitude
secured.
But they would know that ere long the direct
pole-star observations would fail them; for the
passage would presently reach the northern face of
the pyramid. By again using a well-known pro-
perty of liquids, however, combined with a well-
118
THE GREAT PYRAMID,
known property of light rays, they would continue.
the process of orienting to a much greater height.
(When I say well-known, I mean well-known to
them they were manifestly skilful engineers and
architects, and as surely as they were well ac-
quainted with the properties of matter, so surely
must they have been acquainted with the mathe-
matical relations on which the simpler optical
laws depend. Possibly they knew laws more
recondite; but the simpler laws they certainly
knew.) Now, the plan which would quickly sug-
gest itself to any one knowing these laws, would be
to make use of the reflected rays from a star when
the direct rays could no longer be employed. We
know that when a ray from a luminous object is
reflected at a plane surface, the reflected ray and
the incident ray make equal angles with a line per-
pendicular to the surface at the point of incidence,
and are also both in the same plane with that per-
pendicular. Now, what the pyramid architects
wanted was to have a constant means of determin-
ing the direction of north and south-in other
words, a constant knowledge of the position of
what modern astronomers call the plane of the
meridian. They had this so long as they could
observe the pole-star when due north, through a
passage opening out within the square layer they
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 119
were adding to the pyramid. When, as their work
continued, this passage opened out in the part of
the sloping side already completed, they could still
determine the meridian plane if they carried up a
passage through the masonry in such a direction as
to contain the rays from the pole-star after reflec-
tion at a horizontal surface, such as that of still
water. For a perpendicular to the surface of still
water is directed to the zenith, and the direct and
reflected rays from the star (due north) lie, there-
fore, in the meridian plane which passes through
the north and south points and through the zenith.
Now this is precisely what the pyramid builders
seem to have done, as is shown in fig. 5, the dimen-
sions of which are taken from Smyth's book, ‘Our
Inheritance in the Great Pyramid.' A E is the long
slant passage, which for convenience we may call
the descending passage, B C is an ascending pas-
sage of exactly the same character, which, therefore,
we might have presumed was intended for a simi-
lar purpose, even if the consideration of the natural
course which intelligent builders would have pur-
sued had not led us to expect to find precisely such
an ascending passage here. But it may be asked.
how the reflected rays from the star were obtained?
Nothing could have been simpler. The very same
process which had been applied in levelling would
120
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
FIG. 5.
would suffice) plugged at B, and water poured in so
as to partially fill the angle thus formed at B, the
•
VENTILATOR
LEVELLED ROCK
Bung
CHAMBER→
KING'S
QUEEN'S
CHAMBER
VENTILATOR
GRAND GALLERY
CHAMBER
SUBTERRANEAN
be all that would be needed here. If the descend-
ing passage were for a time (a day, or even an hour

8
ENTRANCE\{}
PASSAGE
2
¡TO U DRAGONIS
NATURAL
NATURAL ROCK
GROTTO .
ASCENDING
PASSAGE
SEA
LEVEL
MEDIEVAL
RUBBISH MOUND
LEVELLED ROCK
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 121
surface of that water would reflect the rays of
Alpha Draconis up the ascending passage B C. The
direction for the south line thus indicated could be
marked, and then the plug left to slide down to the
subterranean chamber. Once a year (supposing
one layer of stones added each year, as Lepsius
surmises) would have sufficed for this operation.
Not only do we thus find a natural and perfect
explanation of the circumstance (hitherto unex-
plained) that the ascending passage is inclined at
the same angle to the horizon as the descending
passage, but precisely as we might expect from a
true theory, we find that other points of difficulty
have here their explanation. It is obvious that at
B the casing-stones of the descending passage would
have to be very closely set and carefully cemented,
so that the water used, year after year, in obtaining
¹ Most pyramidalists content themselves by assuming, as Sir E.
Beckett puts it, that the same angle would probably be used for
both sets of passages, as there was no reason for varying it,' which
is not exactly an explanation of the relation. Mr. Wackerbarth
has suggested that the passages were so adjusted for the purpose of
managing a system of balance cars united by ropes from one passage
to another; but this explanation is open, as Beckett points out, to
the fatal objection that the passages meet at their lowest point, not
at their highest, so that it would be rather a puzzle to work out
the mechanical idea.' The reflection explanation is not only open
to no such objections, but involves precisely such an application of
optical laws as we should expect from men as ingenious as the
pyramid builders certainly were,
122
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
the reflected rays, might not percolate through and
do mischief. Now, just here, we find the stones of
the descending passage arranged with greater pre-
cision and made of better material. 'Why,' says
Smyth-who notices everything, but seems always
to insist on some forced explanation- why did the
builders change the rectangular joint at that point,
and execute such unusual angle as they chose in
place of it, in a better material of stone than else-
where, and yet with so little desire to call general
attention to it, that they made the joints fine and
close to that degree that they escaped the attention
of all men until 1865 A.D.?' 'The answer came
from the diagonal joints themselves, in discovering
that the stone between them was opposite to the
butt end of the portcullis of the first ascending pas-
sage, or to the hole whence the prismatic stone of
concealment through 3,000 years, had dropped out
almost before Al Manoun's eyes. Here, therefore,
was a secret sign in the pavement of the entrance
passage, appreciable only to a careful eye and a
measurement by angle, but made in such hard
material that it was evidently intended to last to
the end of human time with the Great Pyramid,
and has done so thus far.' In other words the
stones were thus carefully fitted that they might be
a sign to Professor Piazzi Smyth and the pyramidal-
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 123
ists in 1865, just as the descending and ascending
passages were all to be signs. It may show great
want of taste to say that all these features indicate
the builders' plan, and were in no sort intended for
the benefit of remote generations of men belonging
to an alien race; but it seems a long way more
natural.
At any rate, it is certain that men having no
knowledge of the telescope, and no means of secur-
ing accuracy of direction as our astronomers do by
magnifying, would have adopted precisely such
plans as thus far seem most clearly indicated in the
pyramid structure, making long passages in solid
materials, and where necessary, changing the lines.
of sight by simple reflection. When we consider
that this would be their natural course, and that
even minute details of structure (some hitherto un-
explained) correspond with the theory that they
adopted this course, the conclusion seems fair that
the theory is a sound one. Of course, it cannot be
¹ Albeit, I cannot but think that this ascending passage must
also have been so directed as to show some bright star when due
south. For if the passage had only given the meridian plane, but
without permitting the astronomer to observe the southing of any
fixed star, it would have subserved only one-half its purposes as a
meridional instrument. It is to be remembered that, supposing the
ascending passage to have its position determined in the way I have
described, there would be nothing to prevent its being also made to
show any fixed star nearly at the same elevation, For it could
124
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
acceptable to pyramidalists, who prefer to believe
that the labours of the pyramid builders were
readily be enlarged in a vertical direction, the floor remaining un-
altered. Since it is not enlarged until the great gallery is reached
(at a distance of nearly 127 feet from the place where the ascent
begins), it follows, or is at least rendered highly probable, that
some bright star was in view through that ascending passage.
Now, taking the date 2170 B.C., which Professor Smyth assigns to
the beginning of the Great Pyramid, or even taking any date (as we
fairly may), within a century or so on either side of that date, we
find no bright star which would have been visible when due south,
through the ascending passage. I have calculated the position of
that circle among the stars along which lay all the points passing
26° 18′ above the horizon when due south, in the latitude of Ghizeh,
2170 years before the Christian era; and it does not pass near a
single conspicuous star. There is only one fourth magnitude star
which it actually approaches-namely, Epsilon Ceti; and one fifth
magnitud. star, Beta of the Southern Crown. When we remember
that Egyptologists almost without exception assert that the date of
the building of the pyramid must have been more than a thousand
years earlier than 2170 B. C., and that Bunsen has assigned to Menes
the date 3620 B. C., while the date 3300 B. C. has been assigned to
Cheops or Suphis on apparently good authority, we are led to
inquire whether the other epoch when Alpha Draconis was at
about the right distance from the pole of the heavens may not have
been the true era of the commencement of the Great Pyramid. Now,
the year 3300 B.C., though a little late, would accord fairly well
with the time when Alpha Draconis was at the proper distance 33°
from the pole of the heavens. If the inclination of the entrance
passage is 26° 27', as Professor Smyth made it, the exact date for
this would be 3390 B.C.; if 26° 40', as others made it before his
measurements, the date would be about 3320 B. C., which would suit
well with the date 3300 B.C., since a century either way would only
carry the star about a third of a degree towards or from the pole.
Now, when we inquire whether in the year 3300 B.C. any bright
star would have been visible, at southing, through the ascending
passage, we find that a very bright star indeed, an orb otherwise
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 125
directed by architects knowing all that is now known.
in science, and more; but we are, at least, saved
from the incongruity of assuming that these won-
drously-gifted architects were idiotic enough to
adopt the blundering plan assigned to them—hid-
ing away for preservation their sacred symbolisms
and prophetic teachings, in a building so con
structed that its interior could only be reached by
being forcibly broken into, and would as a matter
of fact be never properly measured until it had lost
in great part the perfection of form on which its
value for the supposed purpose depended.
This will appear still more clearly when we
consider the Great Gallery, which to the astronomer
is the most obviously astronomical part of the
building, but to the pyramidalist is a sort of
'Zadkiel's Almanac'in stone.
All the features thus far have been such as we
should expect to find in a massive structure such
as this, intended-for whatever reason-to be very
carefully oriented. They are such, in fact, as could
not but exist in a building oriented so successfully
as the Great Pyramid unequestionably is, unless
remarkable as the nearest of all the stars, the brilliant Alpha Cen-
tauri, shone as it crossed the meridian right down that ascending
tube. It is so bright that, viewed through that tube, it must have
been visible to the naked eye, even when southing in full daylight.
126
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
some utterly incredible chance had enabled the
builders, by an imperfect method, to hit acci-
dentally on so perfect an orientation. Even then,
in passing from the ground level to higher levels,
they must inevitably have lost the perfection of
their orientation, unless they had had such means.
of keeping their work correct as we find they had.
This being so, the chances being practically infinite
against their first obtaining, and afterwards retain-
ing, such accuracy of orientation, without long,
slant passages, such as we find within the pyramid,
we are logically justified in saying it is certain that
the passages were used in that way, and were
intended originally to subserve that purpose.
The case is somewhat altered when we reach
the point C, where the ascending passage ceases to
be of the same small square section as the descend-
ing one. Up to this point its purpose is obvious.
But so far as mere orientation was concerned, there
seems no reason why it should not have retained
the same section to a higher level. It is true that
the nearer it approached to the central line, LF,'
the less effective its direct value; but certainly this
This line is not vertically below the vertex, V, but central, in
the sense of being the vertical line where the horizontal north and
south line from the ascending and descending passages crosses the
east and west plane through the vertex.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 127
value would not be increased by increasing the
size of the passage, whether in a vertical or a hori-
zontal direction; and from and after the point C it
is increased in both directions.
Now, we are certain that the builders of the
pyramid wanted to orient it very carefully, simply
because we find that they did so. We do not
know why they did. But it seems antecedently
unlikely that all they wanted was to get the pyra-
mid perfectly four-square to the cardinal points.
The natural idea is, that being, as we see by their
work they were, astronomers of great skill, they
had an astronomical purpose of some sort. They
had thus far been working with manifest reference
to the meridional plane, just as an astronomer of
our own time would; and it looks very much, even
from what we have already seen, as though they
had considered this plane for the same reason
that the modern astronomer considers it-- viz.
because this is the plane in which all the heavenly
bodies culminate, or attain the middle and highest
point of their passage from the eastern to the
western horizon. They might have had only a
fancy for exact orientation, though one can hardly
tell why they should. Still, men of different races
have taken strange fancies, and, unlikely though it
seems, this might have been such an one, just as
t28
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
the building of colossal tombs seems to have
been.
At the point C, however, all doubt ceases. The
astronomical nature of the builders' purpose be-
comes here as clear and certain as already the
astronomical nature of their methods has been.
For from here upwards the small ascending pas-
sage is changed to one of great height, so as to
command a long vertical space of the heavens,
precisely as a modern astronomer sets his transit.
circle to sweep the vertical meridian. The floor,
however, of the ascending passage, and even its
sides, are carried on unchanged in direction, right
up to D, where the central vertical (see preceding
note) meets the ascending gallery. So that from
B to D, except where the horizontal passage CL to
the so-called Queen's Chamber is carried off, the
floor of ascending passage and gallery formed a
perfectly uniform slant plane.
And here let us pause to inquire-seeing that
the astronomical purpose of the passage is made
manifest—what shape an astronomer, who was
also an architect, would give to the great ascend-
ing slit, as it were, through which the transits of
the heavenly bodies were to be watched. As an
astronomer, he would like it to be very high and
relatively narrow; but as an architect, he would
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 129:
see that the vertical section could not have such a
shape as A B C D in fig. 6; for then, not only would
the side walls, A C, B D, be unstable, but the observer
would not be comfortably situated. Yet, as an
astronomer, he would know that such a shape as
is shown in fig. 7 would be unsuitable. To men-
tion only one case out of many, supposing he
wanted not only to observe a transit of a heavenly
body along such a course as p₁ Þ₂, or 91 92 (which,
2)
during the short time the body was visible would
be practically a horizontal line), but also by ob-
servations on successive nights to determine the
course of a heavenly body on the star sphere along
a path as P, P2, which might be inclined: then,
the slant of the walls would entirely defeat his
purpose. He would require, as an astronomer,
that the walls should be absolutely vertical (note
the difference between the paths P1 P2 91 92 P1 P2,
in fig. 6, and the similarly-lettered paths in fig. 7),
while as an architect he would know that they
must be closer at the top than at the bottom of a
passage so lofty as the Great Ascending Gallery.
Fig. 8, giving the actual shape of the vertical
section of the Great Gallery, shows how the astro-
nomical architects of the Great Pyramid combined
both qualities. Every part of the walls is abso-
K
130
THE GREAT PYRAMID.

A
B
A

P
P₂
P₂
P
P
P₂
P
&
qz
&
92
C
D
C
FIG. 7.
FIG. 6.
D
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMID.
131
A
B

Pi
Pz
C
q
NA
92
P₁
P2
d
ď
72
K
V
e
R
n
R'
D
FIG. 8.
K 2
132
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
lutely vertical, and yet the walls, regarded as
wholes, are aslant.
If we had not seen from the beginning the
astronomical plan of the Great Pyramid, and that
such a plan indicated an astronomical purpose, we
should find, I take it, in this double character of
the Ascending Gallery, proof positive that it was
intended for astronomical observations. Only an
astronomer would have set the architect such a
problem.
But it may be said, How are observers to
be stationed along a slant gallery such as this,
with smooth and much-inclined floor? Is not the
idea that such an unstable place was intended for
exact astronomical observation almost as absurd
as the notion that the top of the pyramid was
meant for that purpose?
Certainly, if a modern astronomer were plan-
ning a slant gallery for transit work he would
arrange for comfortable observation (the only ob-
servation which can be trustworthy).
Now the ramps, as Professor Piazzi Smyth
calls them-the long slant stone banks, shown in
section at R and R' in fig. 8—seem as if they had
some reference to such a purpose. They are at a
convenient height above the level of the slant
floor, insomuch that Smyth pictures his Arabs.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
133
leaning on them, stepping on to them, and so
forth. But they would not serve of themselves to
make observations easy. The observer has to be
set in the middle of the gallery (at whatever point
of its length he may be), and he ought to be
comfortably seated. I think, if I were planning
for his comfort (which means fitness to make good
observations), I should have seats set across from
ramp to ramp. They must be movable, of course:
and if there were not something along the ramps'
upper surface to hold them, they would slide
down, carrying the observer most uncomfortably
with them. I should, therefore, have holes cut
out along the tops of the ramps at convenient
distances; the holes on one side being exactly
opposite those on the other. A set of cross
Then a bench
benches should then be made, with projections
corresponding to these holes.
could be set wherever it was wanted, or several at
a time, so that different observers might watch the
same transit across different parts of the field of
view, as along P1 P2 1 9, and 2. For some
2) I1
r½ ½
1
observations, indeed, such holes would serve yet
another purpose.
By means of them, screens
could be set up by which to diminish the field of
view and make the observations more exact. Or
on such screens, images of the sun (showing the
134
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
sun spots, be it remarked) could be thrown through
a small opening on a screen, covering for the time
the mouth of the gallery. For such observations.
the holes would be convenient; for the seats they
would be absolutely essential.
Now no traces of the seats themselves, with
their projections, cushions, &c., &c., have been
found, or were likely to be found. But holes in
the ramps are there still; twenty-eight of them
there were originally in each ramp, though now only
twenty-six remain, owing to the destruction of a
ramp-stone. They are situated just as they should
be to subserve the purposes I have mentioned—
that is, at equal distances (of about 5 feet), and
each hole on the east side of the gallery is exactly
opposite the corresponding hole on the left side.
Regarded as a sort of architectural transit in-
strument, the Great Gallery would, of course, have
to be carried up to a certain height, and there open
out on the level to which the pyramid had then
attained, the sides and top being carried up until
the southernmost end of the gallery was completed
with a vertical section like that shown in fig. 10
(facing p. 138). This would be the 'object end' of
the great observing-tube. The observer might be
anywhere along the tube, according to the posi-
tion of the object whose transit was to be observed.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
135
Now notice that the most important object of
transit observations is to determine the time at
which the objects observed cross the meridian.
Either the observer has to determine at what time
this happens, or, by noting when it happens, to
ascertain the time; in one case, knowing the time,
he learns the position of the celestial object in what
is called right ascension (which may be called its
position measured around the celestial sphere in the
direction of its rotation); in the other, knowing the
position of the object in right ascension, he learns
the time. But whether the observer is doing one
or the other of these things, he must have a time-
indicator of some sort. Our modern astronomer
has his clock, beating seconds with emphatic thuds,
and he notes the particular thuds at or near which
the star crosses the so-called wires in the field of
view (really magnified spider lines). We may be
tolerably certain that the observer in the Grand
Gallery had no such horological instrument. But
he must have had a time-indicator of some sort
(and a good one, we may notice in passing), or the
care shown in the construction of the gallery would
have been in great part wasted.
Now, whence could his time-sounds have been
conveyed to him but from the upper end of the
gallery? A time-measure of some sort―probably
136
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
a clepsydra, or water-clock--must have been set
there, and persons appointed to mark the passage
of time in some way, and to note also the instants
when the observer or observers in the Great Gallery
signalled the beginning or end of transit across
the gallery's field of view. These time-indicating
persons, with their instruments, would have occu-
pied the space where now are the floors of the so-
called Antechamber and King's Chamber—then,
of course, not walled in (or the walls would have
obstructed the view along the gallery). These
persons themselves would not obstruct the view,
unless they came too near the mouth of the gallery.
Or they might be close to the mouth of the gallery
at its sides, without obstructing the view.
But now, notice that if the place they thus
occupied—the future King's Chamber (perhaps, as
the region in or near which all the observations of
the heavenly host in culmination had been made)
were in the centre of the square top of the
pyramid as thus far built, they would be very much
in the way of other observers, who ought to be
stationed at certain special points on this horizontal
top, to observe certain important horizontal lines,
viz. the lines directed to the cardinal points and to
points midway between these. An observer who
had this task assigned him should occupy the very
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 137
centre of the square top of the, as yet, incomplete
pyramid, so that the middle point of each side would
mark a cardinal point, while the angles of the square
would mark the mid-cardinal points. Also this
central point ought not only to command direction-
lines to the angles and bisections of the sides, but
to be commanded, without obstruction, by direction-
lines from these points.
Thus the upper end of the Great Ascending
Gallery should not be exactly at the centre, but
somewhat either to the west or to the east of the
centre of the great square summit of the incomplete
pyramid.
Let us
see how this matter was actually
arranged :—
Fig. 9 shows the incomplete pyramid, as sup-
posed to be viewed from above. The four sockets,
s.w., n.w., n.e., and s.e., were supposed, until quite
recently, to mark the exact position of the four base
angles of the pyramid. It turns out, however, that
they are rather below the level of the real basal
plane of the structure, which is, therefore, somewhat
smaller than had been supposed.
Fig. 9 is, however, chiefly intended to show the
nature of the square platform, which formed the top
of the pyramidal frustum when the level of the floor
of the gallery of the King's Chamber had just been
138
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
reached. We have a horizontal section of the
pyramid, in fact, taken through the floor of the
King's Chamber and Antechamber—that is, through
S D, in the figure on p. 120. The bottle-shaped
black space, near O, gives the section of the slant-
ing gallery, beginning on the southern side at its
widest part, reaching a narrower part somewhat to
the north of O, and thereafter narrowing towards
the north, till the section of the uppermost or nar-
rowest part is reached. The dotted lines show
where the Grand Gallery and the narrow ascending
passage (ascending for one passing towards the
King's Chamber) pass downwards into the structure
of the pyramid: at e is the place where descending
and ascending passages meet. The position, also,
of the entrance-hole, forced in by Al Mamoun, at
about the level of the angle e, is indicated.
If posts
At O is the centre of the square surface, which
then formed the top of the structure.
were placed at the angles n.W., S.W., S.e., S.W., and
also at n., e., s., and w., an observer stationed at O
would have the cardinal and the mid-cardinal points
exactly indicated. Now the point O is about eight
and a-half paces from the middle of the southern
opening of the Grand Gallery; so that, if there
were an assistant observer at o, he could communi-
cate time signals readily both to the observers in
N
OF
S.W.Socket

Sw
a
C
King's
Chamber
SE Socket
FIG. 9. Horizontal Section of the Great

S&Socket NV
C
T.W
n
Ma
Gr. Gallery Ascending
Passagy
Van
e
escendin
techamber
5.20.
Pyramid through floor of King's Chamber.
Socket N.E
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 139
the gallery and to the observer at O. All such
observations as the easting, southing, westing, and
northing of heavenly bodies would belong to the
observer at O, uprights of suitable height being
erected at n., e., s., and w. He could also observe
when heavenly bodies passed the mid-cardinal
directions, n.w., s.w., s.c., and s.w. It will be
noticed that if we suppose the Grand Gallery com-
pleted, which would carry it to a height of about
28 feet above the level of the floor at o, the slant of
the gallery would yet be such that the observer
at O, supposing him to observe by means of an
instrument raised a few feet above the level of the
floor, would be perfectly well able to look along the
horizontal direction-line from O to s.w. (Most of
his observations would, of course, be directed to
points above the horizon.)
But I think if I were planning such observations
on the square surface e., s., w., n., I should wish to
have several observers at work in thus taking azi-
muths (directions referred to the cardinal points)
and altitudes, just as several transit observers were
manifestly provided for in the construction of the
Grand Gallery.
I should set an observer at n., to observe in
directions n.-n.w, n.-w., n.-s. (that is, n.O.), n.-e., and
n-s.w.; another at w., another at e., and another at
140
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
s., to observe in the corresponding directions be-
longing to their stations. Observers at n.w., S.20.,
s.e., and s.w. could also do excellent work. In fact,
between them they could take the horizontal car-
dinal and mid-cardinal directions better than the
observer stationed at O, though his would be the
best station for general work with the astrolabe.
Yet again, for observing heavenly bodies at
considerable altitudes, stations nearer to the up-
rights at s.w., w., n.w., &c., would be useful. Where
else could they be so well placed as at the points
a, b, c, d, where the lines w.s., w.n., e.s., and e.n.
intersect the diagonals of the square surface of
the pyramidal structure? Note, also, that these
observing stations would be at convenient distances
from each other. The sides of this square surface
would be roughly about 175 paces long, so that
such a distance as a.w., or a.O would only be about
62 yards (the length of the Grand Gallery being
about 52 yards).
observers of
Thus there would be thirteen
azimuthal directions and altitudes, whose work
would be combined with that of at least seven
transit observers along different parts of the length
of the Great Gallery with its seven transit widths (as
shown by its section, fig. 8, p. 131). Twenty observers
in all (the transit workers provided with the great

OF
FIG. 10.-Vertical Section through the Grand Gallery.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
141
fixed transit instruments in the gallery itself, the
others armed perhaps with astrolabes, armillary
spheres for reference, direction-tubes, or ring-carry-
ing rods) would be able to make observations only
inferior in accuracy to those made in our own time
with telescopic adjuncts.
Fig. 10 is intended to show something of the
structure of the interior of the Great Gallery. The
stones outside are supposed to be seen in section,
only one-fourth of the gallery being given. For
correct perspective, six or seven more layers of
stone should have been shown below the lowest in
the picture. But this would have given to the
illustration an inconvenient shape. It will be seen
that a section of the southern sky, very convenient
for observation, would be seen from the interior of
the Grand Gallery. The central vertical through
this section would (as seen from the middle of any
of the cross seats) be the true meridian. But the
moment of transit might be equally well observed
by taking the moments when a star was first seen
(from the middle of a cross seat) on the eastern
edge of the vertical sky space, and when the star
disappeared: the instant midway between these
would be the true time of transit. By combining
the observations made by several watchmen of
the night,' stationed in different parts of the Grand
142
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
Gallery, a very close approximation to true sidereal
time could be obtained.
I apprehend, however, that astronomers who
had shown themselves so ingenious in other respects,
would not have omitted to note the advantage of
suitably-adjusted screens for special transit obser-
vations; and it seems to me likely that the long
grooves shown in section at k and k (fig. 8, p. 131)
might have been used in connection with such a pur-
pose, and not merely (though that was probably one of
the objects they were intended to subserve) to carry
a horizontal sliding cross-bar, by means of which
the altitude of a celestial body at the moment of
transit could be more readily determined. We
must not forget that transit observers have to
determine what is called the declination of a star
(its distance from the equator), as well as what is
called the right ascension, or distance measured
parallel to the equator from a certain assigned
point on that circle. For this purpose the hori-
zontal lines a d, b b', &c. (fig. 8), would be useful,
but not sufficient. I incline to think that the
method used to obtain accuracy in observations for
determining declination involved a very practical
use of the grooves k k'. Possibly a horizontal bar
ran from k to k', carrying vertical rods, across.
which, at suitable distances, horizontal lines were
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 143
drawn (or, better still, horizontal rods could be slid
to any required height). The horizontal bar could
be slid to any convenient position, the vertical rods
adjusted, and at the time of transit the horizontal
rods could be shifted to such a height as just to
touch a star when seen by an observer in the gallery
at the moment of mid-transit.
If a telescopist in our own time will try to plan
out a method of determining the declinations and
right ascensions of stars (say, for the purpose of
forming a trustworthy star chart or catalogue),
without using a telescope, by using such an observ-
ing place as the Great Gallery, he will see how
much might be done, so far as equatorial and
zodiacal stars were concerned; and they are alto-
gether the most important, even now, and were
still more so in the days when the stars in their
courses were supposed to rule the fates of men and
nations.
How far the structure of the Grand Gallery
corresponds with the requirements of this theory
can be judged from the following description given
by Professor Greaves in 1638:-'It is,' he says, 'a
very stately piece of work, and not inferior, either
in respect of the curiosity of art or richness of
materials, to the most sumptuous and magnificent
buildings;' and a little further on he says: This
144
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
gallery, or corridor, or whatever else I may call it,
is built of white and polished marble (limestone),
the which is very evenly cut in spacious squares or
tables. Of such materials as is the pavement,
such is the roof and such are the side walls that
flank it; the coagmentation or knitting of the
joints is so close, that they are scarcely discernible
to a curious eye; and that which adds grace to
the whole structure, though it makes the passage
the more slippery and difficult, is the acclivity or
rising of the ascent. The height of this gallery is
26 feet' (Professor Smyth's careful measurements
show the true height to be more nearly 28 feet),
'the breadth of 6.870 feet, of which 3'435 feet are
to be allowed for the way in the midst, which is
set and bounded on both sides with two banks
(like benches) of sleek and polished stone; each
of these hath 1717 of a foot in breadth, and as
much in depth.' These measurements are not
strictly exact. Smyth made the breadth of the
gallery above the banks or ramps, as he calls them,
6 feet 10 inches; the space between the ramps,
3 feet 6 inches; the ramps nearly about I foot
inches broad, and nearly 1 foot 9 inches high,
measured transversely; that is, at right angles to
the ascending floor.
14
The diversity of width which I have indicated
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 145
as a desirable feature in a meridional gallery, is a
marked feature of the actual gallery. In the
casting and ranging of the marbles' (limestone),
'in both the side walls, there is one piece of archi-
tecture,' says Greaves, 'in my judgment, very
graceful, and that is that all the courses or stones,
which are but seven (so great are these stones), do
set and flag over one another about three inches;
the bottom of the uppermost course overlapping
the top of the next, and so in order, the rest as
they descend.'
The faces of these stones are
exactly vertical; and as the width of the gallery
diminishes upwards by about six inches for each.
successive course, it follows that the width at the
top is about 3 feet less than the width, 6 feet
10 inches, at the bottom, or agrees in fact with
the width of the space between the benches or
ramps. Thus the shadow of the vertical edges of
the gallery at solar noon just reached to the edges
of the ramps, the shadow of the next lower vertical
edges falling three inches from the edges higher
up the ramps, those of the next vertical edges
six inches from these edges, still higher up, and so
forth. The true hour of the sun's southing could
thus be most accurately determined by seven sets
of observers placed in different parts of the gal-
lery, and near midsummer, when the range of the
L
J
146
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
shadows would be so far shortened, that a smaller
number of observers only could follow the shadows'
motions; but in some respects, the observations in
this part of the year could be more readily and
exactly made than in winter, when the shadow-
spaces of various width would range along the
entire length of the gallery.
Similar remarks would apply to the moon,
which could also be directly observed. The
planets and stars of course could only be observed.
directly.
The Grand Gallery could be used for the obser-
vation of any celestial body southing higher than
26°18′ above the horizon; but not very effectively
for objects passing near the zenith. The Pleiades
could be well observed. They southed about
632° above the horizon in the year 2140 B.C., or
thereabouts, when they were on the equinoctial
colure. But if I am right in taking the year
1
This date is sometimes given earlier, but when account is taken
of the proper motion of these stars we get about the date above
mentioned. I cannot understand how Dr. Ball, Astronomer Royal
for Ireland, has obtained the date 2248 B. C., unless he has taken
the proper motion of Alcyone the wrong way. The proper motion
of this star during the last 4,000 years has been such as to increase
the star's distance from the equinoctial colure; and therefore, of
course, the actual interval of time since the star was on the colure is
less than it would be calculated to be if the proper motion were
neglected.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
147
3300 B.C., when Alpha Centauri shone down the
smaller ascending passage in southing, the Pleiades
were about 58° only above the horizon when
southing, and therefore even more favourably ob-
servable from the great meridional gallery.
In passing I may note that at this time, about
3300 years before our era, the equinoctial point
(that is, the point where the sun passes north of
the equator, and the year begins according to the
old manner of reckoning) was midway between
the horns of the Bull. So that then, and then
alone, a poet might truly speak of spring as the
time-
Candidus auratis aperit quum cornibus annum
Taurus,
as Virgil incorrectly did (repeating doubtless some
old tradition) at a later time. Even Professor
Smyth notices the necessity that the Pyramid
Gallery should correspond in some degree with
such a date. 'For,' says he, 'there have been tra-
ditions for long, whence arising I know not, that
the seven overlappings of the Grand Gallery, so
impressively described by Professor Greaves, had
something to do with the Pleiades, those pro-
verbially seven stars of the primeval world,' only
that he considers the pyramid related to memorial,
L 2
148
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
"
not observing astronomy of an earlier date than
Virgil.' The Pleiades also were not regarded as
belonging to Taurus, but as forming an inde-
pendent star group.
We have seen that the Great Pyramid is so
perfectly oriented as to show that astronomical
observations of great accuracy were made by its
architects. No astronomer can doubt this, for the
simple reason that every astronomer knows the
exceeding difficulty of the task which the archi-
tects solved so satisfactorily, and that nothing
short of the most careful observation would have
enabled the builders to secure anything like the
accuracy which, as a matter of fact, they did
secure. Many, not acquainted with the nature of
the problem, imagine that all the builders had to
do was to use some of those methods of taking
shadows, as, for instance, at solar noon (which has
to be first determined, be it noticed), or before and
after noon, noting when shadows are equal (which
is not an exact method, and requires considerable
care even to give what it can give-imperfect
orientation), and so forth. But to give the accu-
racy which the builders obtained, not only in the
orientation, but in getting the pyramid very close
to latitude 30° (which was evidently what they
wanted), only very exact observations would serve.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
149
Indeed, if a modern astronomer, knowing nothing
about the pyramid, were asked how the thing
could be done without telescopic aid, he would
be apt to say that no greater accuracy than (for
instance) Tycho Brahe obtained with his great
quadrant at Uranienburg could have been secured.
Now, the orientation of the Great Pyramid ap-
proaches much closer to exactness than the best
observations by Tycho Brahe with that justly-
celebrated instrument.'
In the first place, many seem quite unaware of the difficulty of
orienting a building like the Great Pyramid with the degree of ac-
curacy with which that building actually has been oriented. One
gravely asks whether (as Narrien long since suggested) a plumb-line,
so hung as to be brought into line with the pole-star, would not
have served as well as the great descending passage. Observe how
all the real difficulties of the problem are overlooked in this in-
genious solution. We want to get a long line-a line at least 200
yards long—in a north and south position. We must fix its two
ends; and as the pole-star is not available as a point along the line,
we set our plumb-line at the northern end of the line, and our ob-
serving tube or hole, or whatever it may be (only it is not a tele-
scope, for we are Egyptians of the time of Cheops, and have none),
at the other. The pole-star being at an altitude of 26 degrees,
the plumb-line should be nearly 100 yards long, to be seen (near the
top), coincident with the pole-star, from a station 200 yards away.
That is a tolerably long plumb-line. Then its upper part (thus to
be seen without telescopic aid at night) would be about 260 yards
away. The observer's eyesight would have to be tolerably keen.
I am also asked whether a dishful of water would not serve
quite as well as a great mass of water, at the corner where the de-
scending and ascending passages meet, to give the reflected rays
from a star. It would, and so would a thimbleful—just as a thread
of cotton would serve as well as a half-inch rope for the plumb-line
150
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
Seeing this, and observing that the ascending
just considered. But just in proportion as the water surface was
diminished would the difficulty of seeing a star by reflected rays be
increased. The builders had, doubtless, good reason for making
the descending passage about four feet wide and as many high. It
at any rate enabled them to see the pole-star readily, just as the
wide field' of a comet-finder enables the astronomer to bring
a celestial object very easily into view. Whatever reason they had
for thus securing a tolerably large field of view, they would have
precisely the same reason for retaining it undiminished when they
used the reflected instead of the direct rays in observing a star.
Now for this purpose nothing short of the whole breadth of the de-
scending and ascending passages would suffice-in other words, no
dishful or thimbleful of water would have served their purpose.
Then it is asked why the descending passage should be repeated
in the other pyramids when the orientation had already been secured
in the Great Pyramid-manifestly in ignorance of the fact that it
would be far more difficult to take the orientation for one pyramid
from another, than to do it independently. It is also asked whether
the slant descending passages were not obviously meant for the
sliding down of the king's sarcophagus. Sliding the sarcophagus
down that it might afterwards be hauled up the ascending passage!
or if not, what was the ascending passage for? and why was it of
the same cross section as the descending passage? If the sarco-
phagus alone had been in question, we may be certain that the
pyramid engineers would never have arranged for sliding it down
from the level of the entrance to the descending passage, to the place
where the ascending passage begins, in order afterwards to raise it
by the ascending passage. If they meant to go down to the under-
ground chamber they would not have raised it at all, but let it down
from the level of the pyramid's base. But to say truth, moving the
sarcophagus was a mere nothing compared with the lifting of the
great solid blocks which formed the pyramid's mass. The engineers
who moved these great solid blocks to their places would not have
wanted slant passages at the right friction slope, and all the rest of
it, by which to take the sarcophagus to its place; nor would they
have provided for unnecessary descents or ascents either, but have
taken the sarcophagus from the outside to its proper level, and sent
it along a level passage.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
151
and descending passages are just such as the astro-
nomer would make to secure such a result, we may
accept, without doubt, the belief that they were
made for that purpose.
Then we saw that the features of the Great
Ascending Gallery were not such as would be
essential, or even desirable, to increase or maintain
the accuracy of the orientation, as layer after layer
was added to the pyramid, but are precisely such
as would be essential if the pyramid was meant
to subserve (as one, at least, of its objects) the
purpose of an observatory.
But persons unfamiliar with astronomy will
say, This Great Ascending Gallery would only en-
able astronomers to observe stars when due south,
or nearly so, and only those which, when due
south, were within a certain distance above or
below the point towards which the axis of the
Great Gallery is directed. Were all the other stars
left unobserved? And again, we know that the
Egyptians, like all ancient astronomers, paid great
attention to the rising and setting of the heavenly
bodies, and especially to what was called the helia-
cal rising and setting of the stars. In what way
would the Great Gallery help them here?
Now, with regard to the first point, we note
that the chief instrument of exact observation in
152
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
modern observatories, the one which, as it were,
governs all the others, has precisely this quality—
it is always directed to the meridian, and has,
indeed, a very much narrower range of view on
either side of the meridian than the Great Gallery
had. And though it is indeed free to range over
the whole arc of the meridian from the south
horizon point through the point overhead to the
north horizon point, it is mainly employed over
about that range north and south of the celestial
equator which was commanded by the Great
Gallery. The visitor at Greenwich sees the great
equatorial, and imagines that to be the chief ob-
serving instrument. The comparatively unobtru-
sive transit circle seems far less important. But
the time observations, which are far and away the
most important observations made at Greenwich,
are all made, or at least all regulated, by the
transit observations. So are the observations for
determining the positions of stars.
When the equatorial is used to make a time
or position observation, it is used as a differential
instrument; it is employed to determine how far
east or west a star may be (theoretically, how
much it differs in right ascension measured by
time) from another; and again, to show how far
north or south a star may be (theoretically, how
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
153
much it differs in declination) from another, whose
right ascension and declination have already been
determined by repeated observations with the
transit circle. Similarly, the altitude and azimuth
instrument is used in direct subordination to the
transit circle.
The astronomers who observed from the Great
Pyramid doubtless made many more observations
off the meridian than on it. They made multi-
tudinous observations of the rising and setting of
stars, and especially of their heliacal risings and
settings (which last, however, though we hear so
much of them, belonged ex necessitate to but a
very rough class of observations). They no doubt
often used astrolabes and similar instruments to
determine the positions of stars, planets, comets,
&c., when off the meridian, with reference to stars
whose places were already determined by the use
of their great meridional instrument. But all those
observations were regulated by, and derived their
value from, the work done in the Great Ascending
Gallery. The modern astronomer sees that this
was the only way in which exact observations of
the heavenly bodies all over the star-sphere could
possibly have been made; and seeing the extreme
care, the most marvellous pains, which the astro-
nomers of the Great Pyramid took to secure good
154
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
meridional work, the astronomer recognises in him
a fellow-worker. He says, with the poet :—
I am as old as Egypt to myself,
Brother to them that squared the Pyramids :
By the same stars I watch.
And now consider what was this great obser-
vatory of ancient Egypt-the most perfect ever
made till telescopic art revealed a way of exact
observation without those massive structures. A
mighty mass, having a base larger than the square
of Lincoln's Inn, rising by just fifty layers to a
height of about 142 feet, and presenting towards
the south the appearance shown in fig. 11, where
the mouth of the Great Gallery is seen opening
southwards, and the lines are shown which have
been already indicated as 'observing directions' in
the picture facing p. 138. The pyramid observatory
is shown in section in fig. 12. It will be noticed
that the successive layers are not of equal thick-
ness.
There are just fifty between the base and
plane of the floor of the King's Chamber. The
direction-lines for the mid-day sun at midsummer,
midwinter, and the equinoxes are shown; also the
lines to the two stars, Alpha Draconis and Alpha
Centauri, are given at the subpolar meridional
passage of the former and the meridional passage

OF
{
Ď: Midsummer
Liat Aquinox
Önt Midwinter
To a Centauri
3400 B.C.
S
Natural Rock
50th Layer
10th Layper
30th Layer
To a Draconis
3400 B.C.
20th Layer
10th Layer
FIG. 12.-Vertical Section of the Great Pyramid, showing the Ascending and Descending Passages, Grand Gallery, and
Queen's Chamber.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 155
of the latter, at the date when the descending and
ascending passages thus commanded both these
•
1
stars. Within fifty years or so on either side of
this date, the pyramid must, I should think, have
been built. The later date when Alpha Draconis
was at the right distance from the pole, 2170 B.C.,¹
is absolutely rejected by Egyptologists—not one
being ready to admit that the date of the Pyramid
King can have been anywhere near so late.
Thus far all has been tolerably plain sailing.
Of the astronomical use and purpose (not quite
the same thing, be it noticed) of the Great Gallery,
there can be small room for doubt, when we find
(1) every feature in all the passages and in the
Great Gallery correspond with the requirements of
the theory, and (2) many features explicable in no
other way.
1 Some may be disposed to reject a change which they may
imagine displaces the Pleiades from the position which Professor
Piazzi Smyth assigned to that interesting group at the date when
he supposed the pyramid was built. But there never was the least
real significance in that position. If the mistaken idea entertained
by many, and repeated by Flammarion, Haliburton, and others,
that the Pleiades at their meridian shone down the Great Gallery at
the very time when the pole-star of 2170 B. C. shone down the
descending gallery, had been correct, there might have been some
reason to be struck by the coincidence. But it should hardly be
necessary to tell the reader, what every astronomer knows, that
the Pleiades never did or could shine down the Great Gallery,
and in the year 2170 B.C. were thirty-eight degrees (!) north of that
position.
156
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
But here our difficulties begin. Astronomy no
longer lends its aid when we ask why the builder
of the Great Pyramid wanted to have an astro-
nomical observatory as well as a tomb. To begin
with, I suppose Egyptologists are quite clear that a
main purpose of each pyramid was that it should
serve for a tomb. And I suppose, further, that this
being so, it was essential that each pyramid, includ-
ing that one which we have been regarding hitherto
only in its astronomical aspect, should be as nearly
as possible completed before the death of its future
occupant. There may be, for aught I know, some
reason to believe that in the days of the pyramids.
an Egyptian king might be able in some way to
assure himself of the bona fides of his successors,
and that they would continue the work which he
had begun and more than half completed. But it
is very difficult to imagine that this really was the
case. Human nature must in those days have
resembled pretty closely human nature in our own
time; and it seems as unlikely that a king could
trust in his successors so far as to believe they
would expend large sums of money and a great
amount of labour in completing a work in which
they had no direct or actual interest, as that, sup-
posing he trusted them to this degree, their con-
duct after his death would have justified his
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 157
confidence. Thus, when we find that the Great
Pyramid was actually completed in the most care-
ful and perfect manner, we have very strong reason
for believing it to have been all but completed
during the lifetime of the king, its builder-if it
was indeed intended for his tomb. I must confess
that the exclusively tombic theory of the Great
Pyramid (at least) had always seemed to me
utterly incredible, even before I advanced what
seems to me the only reasonable interpretation of
its erection. One may admit that the singular
taste of the Egyptian kings for monstrous tombs
was carried to a preposterous extent, but not to
an extent quite so preposterous as the exclusively
tombic theory would require. Of course, when
we see that the details of the great edifice indicate
unmistakably an astronomical object, which was
regarded as of such importance as to justify the
extremest care, our opinion is strengthened that
the pyramid was not solely meant for a tomb.
For this would bring in another absurdity, scarcely
less than that involved in the exclusively tombic
theory of structures so vast, if even they were non-
astronomical—this, namely, that the Egyptian
kings thought the celestial bodies and their move-
ments so especially related to them, that their long
home must be astronomically posited with a degree
158
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
of care far surpassing that which has ever been
given to an astronomical observatory. Common
sense compels us to believe that whether the Great
Pyramid was meant for a tomb or not, its astrono-
mical character was given to it for some purpose
relating to the living king who had it built. (I
suppose Egyptologists are absolutely certain that
the Great Pyramid was built by one king, and,
therefore, within a few decades of years.)
Now, it is not reasonable to suppose King
Cheops' purpose was simply scientific. We may
fairly take it for granted that the king who ex-
pended such vast sums and sacrificed so many
lives to build for himself a tomb, was not a man
taking a disinterested interest in science, or even
ready to help the priests of his day to regulate
religious ceremonials by astronomical observations
conducted with reference only to general religious
relations. To put the matter plainly, the builder
of the Great Pyramid must have thought of himself
first; next, of his dynasty; then, perhaps, of the
priesthood (though always with reference to the
bearing of religious ceremonies on the welfare of
himself and his dynasty); lastly, of his people, as
1 Even in our own time, though we get greater accuracy in our
observations than Cheops obtained in his pyramid, we have not to
give anything like the same degree of care to the work.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
159
part of his wealth and power. For abstract science
he cared not, as may be well assured, a single jot.
I do not wish to suggest that Cheops was wickedly
selfish. I have no doubt he was thoroughly per-
suaded that he was carrying out the purpose of his
existence in expending much treasure and many
lives on his own well-being (both before and after
death). But there can be no doubt this was the
real object of his expenditure of time, and wealth,
and human life on the great structure which bears
his name.
Now, our thoughts are at once turned by these
considerations to that one sole line along which
astronomy ever has been followed with the hope of
material profit; and we are led to remember that
if there is one idea which has more strongly taken
possession of the human race than any other, or
one which more than any other is associated with
the astronomy of ancient Egypt, it is the idea that
the stars in their courses rule the fate of men and
nations. We remember that even now, when
science has shown the utter incorrectness of the
ideas that underlie the ancient system of astrology,
this system has its influence over millions. Even
now the terms belonging to the system remain
part of our language. Our very religion has all its
times and seasons regulated in ways derived from
160
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
the astrological system of old Egypt. Our Sunday
is the old Chaldæan and Egyptian quarter-month
rest day, and the Jewish Sabbath is this quarter-
month rest day associated with the belief in the
malefic influence of the planet (Saturn), which
formerly ruled the last day of the week (still called
Saturday or Saturn's-day).' The morning and
¹ A correspondent of Knowledge touched on the associa-
tion which I mentioned as existing between the Jewish Sabbath (our
Saturday) and Saturn; labouring, manifestly, under the impression
that the point at issue was the identity of the Roman god Saturn
with the Scandinavian deity assigned to Saturday. But of course
this is not the question at issue. It is not the god Saturn, but
the planet Saturn, which is associated with Saturday. How any
one can reconcile the clear statement of Dion Cassius with the
belief that the days of the week were not associated with the planets
until the twelfth century, passes my comprehension. Dion Cassius
distinctly attributes the invention of the week to the Egyptians, and
as he wrote a thousand years before the time named, there can be no
question as to the greater antiquity of the week-day names. In the
ancient Brahminical astronomy the days are associated with the same
planets as among the Egyptians. See Mr. Colebrooke's papers in the
Asiatic Researches. Among more familiar discussions of this matter
may be cited Bailly's Astronomie Indienne et Orientale, and Bohlen's
Das Alte Indien. Dion Cassius refers to the connection between
musical intervals and the planets, showing that probably the old
Egyptian lore which Pythagoras of Samos brought to Greece, in-
cluded the association between the planets and the days of the week;
that, in fact, all three subjects were connected--planets, musical
intervals, and the days of the week. Longfellow thus poetically
renders the views of Egyptian astrologers on these, with them,
mystical matters :—
'Like the astrologers of eld,
In that great vision I beheld
Greater and deeper mysteries.
I saw, with its celestial keys,
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 161
evening sacrifices of the Jews and their new moon
festivals were manifestly astronomical in origin-in
other words astrological (for astronomy was nothing
except as astrology to the old Chaldæans and
Egyptians). The Feast of the Passover, however
later associated with other events, was derived
from the old astrological observance of the passage
of the sun (the Passing over of the Sun-God) across
the equator, ascendingly; while the Feast of
Tabernacles was in like manner ruled by the pas-
sage of the sun over the equator descendingly.
Our calendar rules for Easter and other festivals
would never, we may be well assured, have been
made to depend on the moon, but for their original
derivation from astronomical (that is astrological)
ceremonial.¹
Its chords of air, its frets of fire,
The Samian's great Æolian lyre,
Rising through all its sevenfold bars,
From earth unto the fixèd stars.
And through the dewy atmosphere,
Not only could I see but hear
Its wondrous and harmonious strings
In sweet vibration, sphere by sphere;
From Dian's circle light and near,
Onward to vaster, wider rings,
Where, chanting through his beard of snows
Majestic, mournful Saturn goes,
And down the sunless realms of space
Reverberates the thunder of his bass,'
1 The Jewish people, when they left Egypt after their long
M
162
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
When we remember that the astronomy of the
time of Cheops was essentially astrology, and
astrology a most important part of religion, we
begin to see how the erection of the mighty mass
of masonry for astronomical purposes may be ex-
plained—or, rather, we see how, being certainly
astronomical, it must be explained. Inasmuch as
it is an astronomical building, erected in a time
when astronomy was astrology, it was erected for
astrological purposes. It was in this sense a sort
of temple, erected, indeed, for the peculiar benefit
of one man or of a single dynasty; but as he was
a king in a time when being a king meant a great
deal, what benefited him he doubtless regarded
as a benefit also to his people: in whatever sense
the Great Pyramid had a religious significance with
regard to him, it had also a national religious
significance.
It would have been worth Cheops' while to have
this great astrological observatory erected, even if
sojourn there, had doubtless become thoroughly accustomed to the
religious observances of the Egyptians (at any rate there is not the
slightest reference even to the Sabbath before the sojourn in Egypt),
and were disposed not only to retain these observances, but to
associate with them the Egyptian superstitions. We know this, in
fact, from the Bible record. Moses could not-no man ever could-
turn a nation from observances once become part of their very
life, but he could, and did, deprive them of their superstitious
character.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 163
by means of it he could learn only what was to
happen, the times and seasons which were likely
to be fortunate or unfortunate for him or his race,
and so forth. But in his day, as in ours, astrology
claimed not only to read but also to rule the stars.
Astrologers did not pretend that they could
actually regulate the movements of the heavenly
bodies, but they claimed that by careful observa-
tion and study they could show how the best ad-
vantage could be taken of the good dispositions.
of the stars, and their malefic influences be best
avoided. They not only claimed this, but doubt-
less many of them believed it; and it is quite
certain that those who were not astronomers
(¿.e. astrologers) were fully persuaded of the truth
of the system which, even when the discovery of
the true nature of the planets has entirely dis-
proved it, retains still its hold upon the minds of
the multitude.
There is, so far as I can see, no other theory of
the Great Pyramid which even comes near to
giving a common-sense interpretation of the com-
bined astronomical and sepulchral character of this.
wonderful structure. If it is certain, on the one.
hand, that the building was built astronomically,
and was meant for astronomical observation, it is
equally certain that it was meant for a tomb, that
M 2
164
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
it was closed in very soon after the king died for
whom it was built, that, in fine, its astronomical
value related to himself alone. As an astrological
edifice, a gigantic horoscope for him and for him
only, we can understand its purport, much though
we may marvel at the vast expenditure of care,
labour, and treasure at which it was erected.
Granted full faith in astrology (and we know there
was such faith), it was worth while to build even
such a structure as the Great Pyramid; just as,
granted the ideas of Egyptians about burial, we
can understand the erection of so mighty a mass
for a tomb, and all save its special astronomical
character. Of no other theory, I venture to say,
than that which combines these two strange but
most marked characteristics of the Egyptian
mind, can this be said.
I could descant at great length on the value
which the Great Pyramid, when in the condition
represented in fig. II (frontispiece) and fig. 12,
must have had for astronomical observation. I
could show how much more exactly than by the
use of any gnomon, the sun's annual course
around the celestial sphere could be determined
by observations made from the Great Gallery,
by noting the shadow of the edges of the upper
opening of the gallery on the sides, the floor,
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
165
The
and the upper surfaces of the ramps.
moon's monthly path and its changes could have
been dealt with in the same effective way. The
geocentric paths, and thence the true paths, of
the planets could be determined very accurately
by combining the use of tubes or ring-carrying
rods with the direction-lines determined from the
gallery's sides, floor, &c. The place of every
visible star along the Zodiac (astrologically the
most important part of the stellar heavens) could
be most accurately determined. Had the pyramid
been left in that incomplete, but astronomically
most perfect, form, the edifice might have re-
mained for thousands of years the most im-
portant astronomical structure in the world. Nay,
to this very day it would have retained its
pre-eminence, provided, of course, that its advan-
tages over other buildings had been duly supple-
mented by modern instrumental and optical im-
provements.
Unfortunately, the Great Pyramid was erected
solely for selfish purposes. It was to be the tomb
of Cheops, and whatever qualities it had for astro-
nomical observation were to be devoted to his
service only. The incalculable aid to the progress
of astronomy which might have been obtained from
this magnificent structure entered in no sort into
166
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
its king-builder's plan. Centuries would have been
required to reap even a tithe of the knowledge
which might have been derived from pyramid ob-
servations, and such observations were limited to
a few years—twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty at the
outside.
Now, while I am fully conscious that the astro-
logical theory of the Great Pyramid is open to
most obvious, and, at the first sight, most over-
whelming objections, I venture to say not only
that these are completely met by what is certainly
known about the pyramid, but that the astrolo-
gical theory (combined, of course, with the tomb
theory) is demonstrably the true explanation
of all that had been mysterious in the Great
Pyramid.
Take the chief points which have perplexed
students of the pyramids generally, and of the
Great Pyramid in particular.
I. Granting the most inordinate affection for
large sepulchral abodes, how can we account for
the amazing amount of labour, money, and time
bestowed on the Great Pyramid ?
The astrological theory at once supplies the
answer. If the builder believed what we know was
actually believed by all the Oriental nations re-
specting planetary and stellar influences, it was
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
167
worth his while to expend that and more on
the pyramid, to read the stars for his benefit,
and to 'rule' stars and planets to his advantage.
2. If the pyramids were but vast tombs, why
should they be astronomically oriented with ex-
treme care to assume for a moment that this is
the only astronomical relation established certainly
respecting them ?
Astrology answers this difficulty most satis-
factorily. For astrological study of the heavens,
the pyramid (in its incomplete or truncated condi-
tion) could not be too accurately oriented.
3. Granted that the Great Pyramid was for a
time used as an astronomical observatory, and that
its upper square platform was used for cardinal
directions in the way shown in fig. 9, what
connection is there between these direction-lines
(the only ones which would naturally arise from
the square form) and astrological relations?
These lines remain to this very day in use
among astrologers. The accompanying figure,
taken from 'Raphael's Astrology' (Raphael being
doubtless some Smith, or Blodgett, or Higgin-
botham), represents the ordinary horoscope, and
its relations (now unmeaning) to a horizontal,
carefully-oriented square plane surface, such as the
top of the pyramid was, with just such direction-
168
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
lines as would naturally be used on such a plat-
form:
Roon-dap

FRIENDS
Cusp of the
Twelfth House.
ENEMIES
Sunrise.
Cusp of the
Ascendant.
Cusp of the
Eleventh House.
LONG JOURNEYS
Cusp of the
Mid-heaven.
HONOR
Particular Significations
Cusp of the
Ninth House.
LIFE
and
HEALTH
OF THE
Twelve Celestial Houses,
According to variout
Astrological Authors.
DEATH
Casp of the
Eighth House.
MARRIAGE
Sun-set.
SICKNESS
Cusp of the
Fifth House.
Cusp of the
Seventh House.
INHERITANCES
Cusp of the
Second House.
Cusp of the
Fourth
House.
RICHES
Cusp of the
Third House.
KINDRED
and
SHORT JOURNEYS
Mid-night.
FIG. 13.
Casp of the
Sixth House.
CHILDREN
4. Why did each king want a tomb of his own?
Why should not a larger family mausoleum, one
in which all the expense and labour given to all
the pyramids might have been combined, have
been preferred?
It may be noted here, that, according to some
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 169
traditions, the second pyramid, though somewhat
smaller than the first, and altogether inferior in
design, was begun somewhat earlier. I would
invite special attention to this point. It is one of
those perplexing details which are always best
worth examining when we want to obtain a true
theory. The second pyramid was certainly built
during the reign of the builder of the first or Great
Pyramid. It must have been built, then, with his
sanction, for his brother, Chephren, according to
Herodotus; Noun-shofo, or Suphis II., according
to the Egyptian records. Enormous quantities of
stone, of the same quality as the stone used for
the Great Pyramid, were conveyed to the site of
the second pyramid, during the very time when
the resources of the nation were being largely
taxed to get the materials for the Great Pyramid
conveyed to the place appointed for that structure.
It would appear, then, that there was some strong
-in fact, some insuperable-objection to the
building of one great pyramid, larger by far than
either the first or second, for both the brothers.
Yet nothing has ever been learned respecting the
views of the Egyptians about tombs (save only
what is learned from the pyramids themselves, if
we assume that they were only built as tombs)
which would suggest that each king wanted a
170
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
monstrous pyramid sepulchre for himself. If we
could doubt that Cheops valued his brother and
his family very highly, we should find convincing
proof of the fact, in the circumstance that he
allowed enormous sums to be expended on his
brother's pyramid, and a great quantity of labour
to be devoted to its erection, at the time when his
own was in progress at still greater expense, and at
the cost of still greater labour. But if he thus
highly esteemed his brother, and regarding him as
the future ruler of Egypt, recognised in him the
same almost sacred qualities which the people of
Egypt taught their rulers to recognise in themselves,
what was to prevent him from combining the
moneys and the labours which were devoted to the
two pyramids in the construction of a single larger
pyramid, which could be made doubly secure,
and more perfectly designed and executed? Is
anything whatever known respecting either the
Egyptians or any race of tomb-loving, or rather
corpse-worshipping people, which would lead us
to suppose that a number of costly separate tomb
pyramids would have been preferred to a single,
but far larger, pyramid-mausoleum, which should
receive the bodies of all the members of the family,
or at least of all those of the family who had ruled
in turn over the land? If we could imagine for a
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
171
moment that Cheops would have objected to such
an arrangement, is it not clear that when he died
his successors would have taken possession of his
pyramid, removing his body perhaps, or not allow-
ing it to be interred there, if the sole or even the
chief purpose for which a pyramid was erected was
that it might serve as a gigantic tomb?
We may indeed note, as a still more fatal ob-
jection to the theory that the chief purpose for
which a pyramid was built was to serve as the
builder's tomb, that it would have been little short
of madness for Cheops to devote many years of his
life, enormous sums of money, and the labour of
myriads of his people, to the construction of a
building which might and probably would be
turned after his death to some purpose quite
different from that for which he intended it. It is
not to be supposed, and indeed history shows it
certainly was not the case, that the dynasties which
ruled over Egypt were more secure from attack
than those which ruled elsewhere in the East
during those days. Cheops cannot have placed
such implicit reliance on his brother Chephren's
good faith as to feel sure that, after his own death,
Chephren would complete the pyramid, place
Cheops' body in it, and close up the entrance so
securely that none could find the way into the
172
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
chamber where the body was laid. Cheops could
not even be certain that Chephren would survive
him, or that his own son, Mycerinus or Menkeres,
would be able to carry out the purpose for which
he (Cheops) had built the pyramid.
Apart, then, from that feature of the tomb
theory which seems so strangely to have escaped
notice the utter wildness of the idea that even
the most tomb-loving race would build tombs
quite so monstrous as these-we see that there are
the strongest possible objections against the credi-
bility of the merely tombic theory (to use a word
coined, I imagine, by Professor Piazzi Smyth, and
more convenient perhaps than defensible). It
seems clear on the face of things that the pyramids
must have been intended to serve some useful
purpose during the lifetime of the builder. It is
clear also (all, indeed, save the believers in the
religion of the Great Pyramid, will admit this point)
that each pyramid served some purpose useful to
the builder of the pyramid, and to him only.
Cheops' pyramid was of no use to Chephren,
Chephren's of no use to Mycerinus, and so forth.
Otherwise we might be sure, even if we adopted
for a moment the exclusively tombic theory, that
though Chephren might have been so honest as
not to borrow his brother's tomb when Cheops was
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
173
departed, or Mycerinus so honest as not to despoil
either his uncle or his father, yet among some of
the builders of the pyramids such honesty would
have been wanting. It is clear, however, from all
the traditions which have reached us respecting the
pyramids, that no anxiety was entertained by the
builder of any pyramid on this score. Cheops
seems to have been well assured that Chephren
would respect his pyramid, and even (at great ex-
pense) complete it; and so of all the rest. There
must, then, have been some special reasons which
rendered the pyramid of each king useless alto-
gether to his successor.
Astrology at once supplies a reason. Dead
kings of one family might sleep with advantage in
a single tomb; but each man's horoscope must be
kept by itself. Even to this day, the astrological
charlatan would not discuss one man's horoscope
on the plan drawn out and used for another man's.
Everything, according to ancient astrological super-
stition, would have become confused and indistinct.
The ruling of the planets would have been imper-
fect and unsatisfactory, if King Cheops' horoscope
platform had been used for Chephren, or Cheph-
ren's for Mycerinus. The religious solemnities
which accompanied astrological observations in the
days when the chief astrologers were high priests,
174
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
would have been rendered nugatory if those per-
formed under suitable conditions for one person
were followed by others performed under different
conditions for another person.
5. How is it that the pyramid of Chephren
(Cheops' brother), though about as large, is quite
inferior to the pyramid of Cheops, the pyramid of
Mycerinus (Cheops' son) much smaller, and that
of Asychis (Cheops' grandson) very much smaller,
while to the younger sons and daughters of Cheops
very small pyramids, within the same enclosure as
the Great Pyramid, are assigned ?
The astrological answer is obvious. Cheops
not only had full faith in astrology-as, indeed, all
men had in his day-but his faith was so lively
that he put it in practice in a very energetic way
for the benefit of himself and dynasty. Chephren
probaby had similar faith. For the two brothers,
separate pyramids, nearly equal in size, were
made, either at the command of Cheops alone, or
with such sanction from Chephren as his (probable)
separate authority required and justified. At the
same time, and because his fortunes were obviously
associated in the closest manner with those of his
father and uncle, Cheops (or Cheops and Chephren)
would have a pyramid made for Mycerinus, but on
a smaller scale. Probably, the astrology of those

THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
175
days assigned the proper proportion in which the
horoscope-platform for a son should be less than
that for a father. It is noteworthy, at any rate,
that the linear dimensions of the pyramid of
Asychis are less than those of the pyramid of
Mycerinus, in just the same degree that these are
less than the linear dimensions of the pyramid of
Cheops.
6. It is certain that if Mycerinus had built his
own pyramid, he would have erected one larger,
not smaller, than his father's, while Asychis would
have made his pyramid larger yet; whereas, as a
mere matter of fact, the pyramid of Asychis is
utterly insignificant in size compared with the
pyramid of Cheops. The sides of the bases of
the four pyramids were roughly as follows:-The
pyramid of Cheops, 760 feet; that of Chephren,
720 feet; that of Mycerinus, 330 feet; that of
Asychis, 160 feet. The pyramid of Cheops
exceeds that of Asychis much more than 150 times
in volume. It is not in accordance with what we
know of human nature to suppose that Asychis
would have been content with so insignificant a
version of his grandfather's pyramid. Rather than
that, he would have had no pyramid at all, but
invented some new sepulchral arrangement. Yet
it adds enormously to the difficulties of the pyra-

176
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
mid problem to suppose that Cheops and Cheph-
ren arranged for the erection of all the pyramids,
or, at any rate, that the smaller pyramids were
raised to the horoscope-platform level during their
lifetime.
Here, however, the astrological theory, instead
of encountering, as all other theories do, a new
and serious difficulty, finds fresh support; for this
arrangement is precisely what we should expect.
to find if the Great Pyramid was erected to its
observing platform for astrological observation and
the religious observances associated with them. It
is certain that with the ideas Cheops must have
had (on that theory) of the importance of astro-
nomical observations to determine, and partly
govern, his future, he would not have left his sons
without their pyramidal horoscopes. Even if we
suppose he entertained such jealousy of his brother
Chephren, as Oriental (and some Occidental)
princes have been known to entertain of their near
kinsfolk and probable successors, that would be
but an additional reason for having his brother's
horoscope-pyramid erected on such a scale as the
astrologers and priests considered suitable in the
case of such near kinship. For by means of the
observations made by the astrological priesthood
from Chephren's horoscope-platform, Cheops could
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
177
learn, according to the astrological doctrines in
which he believed, the future fortunes of his
brother, and even be able to rule the planets in his
own defence, where their configurations seemed
favourable to Chephren and threatening to him-
self.
7. But it may be urged that, beyond the gene-
ral statement that the pyramids were intended as
the tombs of their respective builders, we learn too
little from ancient writers to form any satisfactory
idea of their object.
It so happens, however, that the only precise
statement handed down to us respecting the use of
the pyramids-not merely of the Great Pyramid,
but of all the pyramids-accords with the astro-
logical theory in every detail, and with no other
theory in any degree. For we learn from Proclus
that the pyramids of Egypt (which, according to
Diodorus, had existed 3,600 years before his
history was written, about 8 B.C.) terminated above
in a platform, from which the priests made their
celestial observations.
Observe how much is implied in this short
statement:
First, all the pyramids had a use independent
of their final purpose as tombs; a use, therefore,
during the lifetime of their future tenants, and
N
178
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
presumably-one may say certainly-relating to
the interests of those persons.
Secondly, this use was precisely such as we
have been led to infer with all but absolute.
certainty, already, from the study of the Great
Pyramid.
Thirdly, the astronomical observations were
made by priests, and were therefore religious in
character-a description which could only apply
to astronomical observations made for astrological
purposes. In all probability, the priests who made
these observations professed a religion differing
little from pure Sabaism, or the worship of the
heavenly host. But it must be remembered that
astrology was the natural offspring of Sabaism.
Wherever we find an astronomical priesthood,
there we find faith in astrology. But to say truth,
where among ancient Oriental nations was such
faith wanting? The Jews had less of it than other
Oriental nations, but they were not free from it.
As they had all their religious observances regu-
lated by the heavenly bodies, so they recognised
the influence of the 'stars in their courses.' If
they believed the heavenly bodies to be for
'seasons' (of religious worship), and for 'days and
years,' they believed them also to be for 'signs.'
This also was the view of the ancient Chaldæans.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 179
'It is evident,' says the late Mr. George Smith,
'from the opening of the inscriptions on the first
tablet of the Chaldæan astrology and astronomy,
that the functions of the stars were, according to
the Babylonians, to act not only as regulators of
the seasons and the year, but also to be used as
signs, as in Genesis i. 14; for in those ages it was
generally believed that the heavenly bodies gave,
by their appearance and positions, signs of events
which were coming on the earth.'
In fine, while there is no other theory of the
pyramids generally, and of the Great Pyramid in
particular, which has either positive or negative
evidence in its form, the astrological theory is sup-
ported by all the known positive evidence; and
strong though such support is, it derives yet greater
strength from the utter failure of all other admis-
sible theories to sustain the weight against them.
There are difficulties in the astrological theory, no
doubt, but they are difficulties arising from our
inability to understand how men ever had such
fulness of faith in astrology as to devote enormous
sums and many years of labour to the pursuit of
astrological researches, even for their own inter-
ests. Yet we know in other ways that astrology
really was accepted in those days with the fulness
of faith thus implied. While, however, the only
N 2
180
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
serious difficulty in the astrological theory thus
disappears when closely examined, the difficulties
in the way of all other theories are so great, that,
to all intents and purposes, they are not so much
difficulties as impossibilities.
I do not say that there is nothing surprising in
what is known, when the theory is admitted that
the Great Pyramid was built by Suphis or Cheops
in order that astronomical observations might be
continued throughout his life, to determine his
future, to ascertain what epochs were dangerous or
propitious for him, and to note such unusual phe-
nomena among the celestial bodies as seemed to
bode him good or evil fortune. It does seem
amazing, despite all we know of the fulness of
faith reposed by men of old times in the fanciful
doctrines of astrology, that any man, no matter
how rich or powerful, should devote many years
of his life, a large portion of his wealth, and the
labours of many myriads of his subjects, to so
chimerical a purpose. It is strange that a building
erected for that purpose should not be capable of
subserving a similar purpose for his successors on
the throne of Egypt. Strange also that he should
have been able to provide in some way for the
completion of the building after his death, though
that must have been a work of enormous labour,
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
181
and very expensive, even though all the materials
had been prepared during his own lifetime.
But I do assert with considerable confidence
that no other theory has been yet suggested (and
almost every imaginable theory has been advo-
cated) which gives the slightest answer to these
chief difficulties in the pyramid problem. The
astrological theory, if accepted, gives indeed an
answer which requires us to believe the kingly
builder of the Great pyramid, and, in less degree,
those who with him or after him built the others,
to have been utterly selfish, tyrannical, and super-
stitious or, in brief, utterly unwise. But unfor-
tunately the study of human nature brings before
us so many illustrations of the existence of such
folly and superstition in as great or even greater
degree, that we need not for such reasons reject
the astrological theory. Of other theories it may
be said that, while not one of them, except the
wild theory which attributes the Great Pyramid to
divinely instructed architects, presents the builders
more favourably, every one of these theories leaves.
the most striking features of the Great Pyramid
entirely unexplained.
Lastly, I would note that the pyramids when
rightly viewed must be regarded, not as monu-
ments which should excite our admiration, but as
182
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
stupendous records of the length to which tyranny
and selfishness, folly and superstition, lust of power
and greed of wealth, will carry man. Regarded
as works of skill, and as examples of what men
may effect by combined and long-continued labour,
they are indeed marvellous, and in a sense admi-
rable. They will remain in all probability, and
will be scarcely changed, when every other edifice
at this day existing on the surface of the earth
has either crumbled into dust or changed out of
all knowledge. The museums and libraries, the
churches and cathedrals, the observatories, the
college buildings and other scholastic edifices of
our time, are not for a moment to be compared
with the Great Pyramid of Egypt in all that con-
stitutes material importance, strength, or stability.
But while the imperishable monuments of old
Egypt are records of tyranny and selfishness, the
less durable structures of our own age are, in the
main, records of at least the desire to increase the
knowledge, to advance the interests, and to ame-
liorate the condition of the human race. No good
whatever has resulted to man from all the labour,
misery, and expense involved in raising those
mighty structures which seem fitted to endure
while the world itself shall last. They are and
ever have been splendidly worthless. On the other
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS.
183
hand, the less costly works of our own time, while
their very construction has involved good instead
of misery to the lowlier classes, have increased the
knowledge and the well-being of mankind. The
goodly seed of the earth, though perishable itself,
germinates, fructifies, and bears other seed, which
will in turn bring forth yet other and perchance
even better fruits; so the efforts of man to work
good to his fellow-man instead of evil, although
they may lead to perishable material results, will
yet germinate, and fructify, and bear seed, over
an ever-widening field of time, even to untold
generations.
184
APPENDICES.
APPENDIX A.
THE GREAT PYRAMID MEASURES, AND THE DIA-
METERS AND DISTANCES OF THE SUN, EARTH, AND
MOON.
BY JOSEPH BAXENDELL, F.R. A. S.
A FEW months ago the results of a partial discussion of
the Great Pyramid measures, given by Professor C.
Piazzi Smyth, in the fourth edition of his work entitled
'Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid,' led me to believe
that the data which had formed the basis of the design
for the pyramid were the diameters and distances of the
sun, earth, and moon, combined with the ratio (#) of the
circumference of a circle to its diameter-a quantity
which forms an important feature in the relations of the
pyramid measures; and, also, that in order to reduce the
results of the astronomical data to magnitudes suitable
for the design and construction of the pyramid, a scale
of one pyramid inch to a length, one-thousandth part
greater than the present English mile, or 63,360 pyramid
inches, had been used by the architect; but as I found
that the values of the diameters and distances given in
various astronomical works, especially those for the
APPENDIX A.
185
diameter and distance of the sun, would not yield results.
agreeing exactly with the pyramid measures, although
they were generally remarkably close approximations, I
was induced to undertake a more extended discussion
and analysis of the measures, with a view to ascertain, if
possible, the exact values which had been employed by
the architect in his reductions, and it thus became
necessary to attempt a solution of the following problem.
Given approximate values of the diameters and distances
of the sun, earth, and moon, to find the values which in
simple combinations will give, with strict exactness, the
various pyramid measures and numbers, the scale for the
reductions being one pyramid inch for a pyramid mile of
63,360 pyramid inches. For some time I had consider-
able difficulty in forming the requisite number of suitable
equations for the complete solution of this problem,
but ultimately succeeded, and obtained the following
values :-
Diameter of the Sun
Equatorial diameter of the Earth
Diameter of the Moon
Mean distance of the Sun
Mean distance of the Moon
Pyramid Miles
$55,938
English Miles
856,793
7,917'7
7,925.6
2,157.2
2,159'3
91,758,800
91,850,558
238,483
238,721
Let S distance of the sun; M= distance of the
moon; s= diameter of the sun; e = equatorial diameter
of the earth; m = diameter of the moon. Then the
following equations, in which pyramid miles and inches
are adopted, will show the relations between these num-
bers and the pyramid measures :—
se
I.
= 1,000,000π.
m
186
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
It is probably owing to the remarkable relation in the
magnitudes of the three bodies shown by this equation
that the quantity forms so prominent a feature in the
relations of the pyramid measures.
П
2. √ Sπ² = 9,13105 = length of one side of the base
of the pyramid.
3. √ S2π = 5,813'01 height of the pyramid.
Sπ²π √ π
4.
25,000
2 √ST √ π
5.
=
25
6.
√ Sπ √ π
1,000
=
1,88159 = length of Grand Gallery.
412.13 = length of King's Chamber.
5'151,646 = the number which has
been called the key number to the dimensions of the
King's Chamber, and of the pyramid generally.
7. S = 25,000,000e
8. M=
CINπ
3252
9. M
m
IO.
II.
se³
9mS
2S
5.151,646 M
3√ SMSπ³
250e
the Pyramid.
I 2.
13.
3√ SMST3
5000п
75√ SM
80e√ Sπ2
14.
3 √ SM
=149'37 = height of ante-chamber.
=36,524 22 perimeter of base of
5,81301 height of the pyramid.
=
1,88159 length of Grand Gallery.
=
=41213-length of the King's Chamber.
Among the equations I obtained during the investi-
APPENDIX A.
187
gation were several which gave a smaller value for the
diameter of the sun; and as I am not aware that any
sensible difference has ever been observed between the
polar and equatorial diameters, this result seemed ad-
verse to the theory of a connection between the pyramid
measures and the diameters of the three bodies, until it
occurred to me that probably one diameter referred to
the photosphere, and the other to the comparatively dark
and solid or liquid body of the sun. 'This latter diameter
is 853,718 pyramid miles, or 2,220 miles less than that
of the photosphere, and the following equations, in
which it is represented by the Greek letter o, will show
its connection with the pyramid measures :—
02
= 5,813.01 = height of pyramid,
σπ
15.
e2
36,524 20 = perimeter of base.
02
16.
202
17.
.2
18.
02 √π
50e2
19.
= 1,881'59.
20.
2I.
100e2
= 116.26= length of ante-chamber.
= 412*13.
σπ νπ
400,000c4
4 3
4/
π
(22/105)² = 1,881'59.
4,000@2
= 5'1,516.
The length of the earth's polar axis is assumed by
pyramidists to be 500,000,000 pyramid inches, or 7,891'41
pyramid miles of 63,360 pyramid inches to the mile, or
7,899.30 English miles, while the value derived by Col.
Clarke, from an elaborate discussion of measurements of
188
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
arcs of meridian, is 7,899.11 English miles-the differ-
ence being, therefore, less than two-tenths of a mile. I
was, therefore, much surprised to find that the pyramid
measures would not yield a less diameter for the earth
than 7,892*54 pyramid miles, or more than a mile greater
than the generally-accepted length of the polar diameter.
The question therefore arose-Can this latter length be
in error to the extent indicated, or is the value I have
obtained connected in any way with some marked fea-
ture of the pyramid? It seemed to be highly impro-
bable, if not impossible, that the results of the calcula-
tions of Bessel, Airy, and Clarke could be in error to the
extent of more than a small fraction of a mile ; and as-
suming, therefore, that the figure of the earth is truly
spheroidal with major axis= 7,717'7, and minor axis.
= 7,89141 pyramidal miles, I calculated the geocentric
latitude in which a diameter will be 7,892 54 miles, and
found it to be 78° 25′ 33″; and, deducting this from
90°, we have 11° 34′ 27″. A glance at this result at once
suggested that it was the polar distance of the pyramid
pole-star, a Draconis, multiplied by the quantity π, and
on dividing 11° 34′ 27″ by π, I obtained 3° 41', which is
a very close approximation to the calculated polar dis-
tance of a Draconis at the time of the building of the
pyramid. Now a section of the earth through the
parallel of latitude marked out in so singular a manner
has a diameter of 1,583.54 pyramid miles, or exactly one-
fifth of the earth's equatorial diameter, and an area of
1,969,462 miles, or one twenty-fifth that of a section
through the equator, which is 49,236,600 miles. The
occurrence of the pyramid numbers 5 and 25 in connec-
APPENDIX A.
189
tion with the diameter thus indicated in so striking a man-
ner gives a peculiar importance to it, and accordingly I
have found that expressions in which it is a factor can be
formed which give exactly the various pyramid measures.
Thus, representing this diameter by the Greek letter ŋ
(eta), we have
22. 1)
SNπ
4,000 × 5*151,646
=7,892'54.
Se2
23. 17
2
ST
24.
=5*151,646.
4,000m
S
25.
chamber.
11,626.02 = 100 times length of ante-
26.
S²π√ π
4,000n25 151,646
36,524 22.
√2en
27.
ΙΟΟ
in ante-chamber.
= 111*795= height of granite wainscot
45002n
3
5'151,646cm T
28.
= 149*37.
S²π √ π
29.
=
1,881.59.
2
400,000n
30.
ST
31.
Sπ5*151,646
IOON
= 9,131°05.
1,881*59.
47
S
32.
= 5,813 01.
217
n
It may be remarked that the diameter ʼn is exactly one
seven-thousandth part greater than the polar diameter,
and that the parallels of latitude in which it occurs
190
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
may be regarded as the limits of the habitable portion of
the globe.
The results of my investigation having proved that a
measure corresponding to our English mile, and contain-
ing 63,360 pyramid inches, was used by the architect of
the pyramid, it became a matter of interest to ascertain,
if possible, how it originated, and ultimately I arrived at
the following formula :---
33. 10
N
se
N m
17,7245 miles, which is the cir-
cumference of a circle whose area is 25,000,000 miles, or
equal to the area of a section of the earth through the
parallel of latitude in which the length of a diameter is
equal to the mean of all the earth's diameters (7,904'545
p. miles). This area, expressed in pyramid inches, is
equal to a square, the side of which has a length of
316,800,000 inches, and this, divided by 5,000 = 63,360
inches.
My experience in the development of the theory
which has yielded the results given in this paper has
convinced me that there is no feature of the Great
Pyramid, or relation of its various parts, which cannot
be expressed in terms of the astronomical data I have
used, and in some cases, as I have already shown, two,
three, or more equations can be formed, each containing
one or more factors not in the others, but giving pre-
cisely the same result. It is evident, therefore, that the
builder possessed a far greater amount of mathematical
and astronomical knowledge than it has hitherto been
supposed could possibly have been acquired by the ordi-
nary course of observation and scientific investigation in
APPENDIX A.
191
the early age of the world when the pyramid was built;
and the fact that the values of the diameters and dis-
tances used by him are within the limits of the probable
errors of the means of the best astronomical determina-
tions of recent times proves that, so far at least as these
values are concerned, modern science has made no real
advance upon the science known to the builder of the
Great Pyramid 4,000 years ago.
APPENDIX B.
EXCAVATIONS AT THE PYRAMIDS.¹
GHIZEH PYRAMIDS. Nov. 26, 1881.
BY W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE.
DURING the past six weeks excavations have been
carried on by me here, under the authorisation of M.
Maspero, not for obtaining portable antiquities, but for
deciding questions of architecture and measurement.
Many points of interest have been uncovered for the first
time in modern history, though the work was not on a
large scale, and the number of excavators never exceeded
twenty. There have been over 280 holes sunk, varying
from a foot deep to shafts twenty feet deep and trenches.
ninety feet long.
A brief notice of the work done may be worth giving
1 From a letter to the Academy,
192
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
at once, without waiting for the complete publication of
it, along with my survey of the pyramids (made during
five months of last season), to which it is a necessary
sequel, for fixing the exact fiducial points of the ancient
constructions.
At the Great Pyramid, the entrance passage has been
cleared enough to examine it throughout, and to enter
the subterranean chamber freely. Some of the loose
gravel in the 'grotto' of the well has been moved, show-
ing that there is a natural vertical fissure filled with the
gravel. The casing and pavement of the pyramid have
been found in situ, at about the middle of the west, east,
and south sides; it was already exposed on the north
side, on which alone it has been hitherto known. The
outer edge of the rock-cut bed of the pavement has been
cleared in parts of the sides, and at the north-east and
south-west corners. The great basalt pavement has been
cleared in parts, and the edge of the rock-cut bed of it
has been traced along the north-east and south sides;
but its junction with the limestone pyramid paving
(which is at the same level) could not be found, as both
are destroyed at that part. The ends of the great trenches
around the basalt pavement have been partly cleared.
The bottom and sides of the east-north-east trench have
been cleared in parts to show the form. No bottom was
found under nine feet of sand in the north trench. The
small north-north-east trench has been cleared in parts
up to its inner end at the basalt paving, where it is much
smaller, and forks into two. The various rock cuttings.
and trenches north-east of the pyramid have been cleared
and surveyed, but refilled, as the road passes over them.

APPENDIX B.
193
*
A piece of the casing of the pyramid, found near the
base on the west side, has Greek inscriptions, apparently
Pto. . . . Sōt . . . . (perhaps Ptolemy VIII., as the s
is round); and Markos K
over which is ham-
maj... in Arabic. Nothing,
besides a few fragments with single letters, had been pre-
viously discovered of the many inscriptions that existed.
on the casing.
mered roughly
•
At the second pyramid the corners have been all
cleared. The site of the edge of the casing has been
found in six places near the corners, and the casing itself
uncovered at the south-west. The edge of the bed of
the pavement has been found on the north and west
sides. The peribolus walls of the pyramid have been
cleared in many parts, showing that they are all carefully
built, and not of 'heaped stone rubbish,' as had been
hitherto supposed. Also, the so-called 'lines of stone
rubbish' on the west side of the pyramid prove to be all
built walls, forming a series of long galleries about sixty
in number, each about 100 ft. long, 9 ft. wide, and 7 ft.
high, with ends and thresholds of hewn limestone.
They would suffice to house two or three thousand men,
and I can only suppose that they were the workmen's
barracks. Fragments of fine statues in diorite and
alabaster were found here, like those in the temple of
this pyramid. The great bank of chips on the south
side of the cyclopean wall north of the pyramid proves
to have retaining walls built in it to hold up the stuff.
The peribolus wall on the south-south-east of the
pyramid is of fine limestone, of good workmanship, like
most of the tombs of the period. The enormous heaps
0

194
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
of rubbish south of this wall were slightly cut, and found
to consist of tipped out, stratified, clean chips of lime-
stone, like the rubbish banks of the Great Pyramid, but
inferior stone.
At the third pyramid, the granite casing has been un-
covered at its base in five places near the corners. The
peribolus walls have been cleared in many parts all round,
and found, in every case, not to consist of heaped stones,
but to have carefully-built vertical faces, like the second
pyramid peribolus, but of inferior work; and the wall on
the south side is better built, and very wide.
The small pyramids have not been cleared for lack of
time, as they are rather deeply buried; but a part of the
rock-cut bed of pavement of the northern one near the
Great Pyramid was accidentally uncovered close to the
edge of the bed of the basalt pavement.
Though I am obliged to suspend work here at pre-
sent, yet I shall be very glad to receive any suggestions
of points needing examination (addressed to Poste
Restante, Cairo); and, if they are practicable, I may find
an opportunity for further work two or three months
hence.
When all the paper work of this survey is finished, we
shall know the sizes and distances of the pyramids within
a quarter of an inch; and there will be fresh soil for
the growth of theories, as the Great Pyramid proves to be
several feet smaller than hitherto supposed, the sockets
not defining the casing at the pavement level, though
defining it, perhaps, at their own respective levels.

APPENDIX B.
195
NOTE ON THE ABOVE.
With the discovery that the base of the pyramid is
several feet shorter than had been supposed, a number of
relations supposed to connect the Great Pyramid with
astronomy go overboard at a single stroke. Still, the
coincidences remain. Indeed, it only requires that the
pyramid inch should be slightly altered for the relations
to be all once more perfectly fulfilled. What will be done
with the arguments showing the true pyramid inch to be
almost exactly the same as the British inch, and the true
cubit to be twenty-five of these inches, I do not know :
but past experience shows that whatever the precise value
of the pyramid inch, as deduced from these new mea-
sures, may prove to be, will be shown to be just the
value which corresponds most perfectly with what may
be called the pyramid religion. Let us see what is the
nature of the coincidences on which pyramidalists lay so
much stress.
We find that while the pyramid fulfils closely the
relation which Herodotus says it was intended to fulfil,
each slant face being equal in area to the square of the
height, it also very nearly fulfils what Taylor tells us was
the real purpose of the builder, the height being nearly
equal to the radius of a circle having a circumference
equal to the perimeter of the square base; and again, it
almost as closely fulfils another relation, in having the
02

196
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
slant at the edge very nearly as 9 vertically to 10 horizon-
tally. Now, to the ignorant, it seems as though the close
approximation of the building's proportions to these three
relations proves demonstrably the mathematical skill of
the builders, if not their divine inspiration. As a mat-
ter of fact, however, we see from the co-existence of
these three relations, any one of which might as well as
another be the real one which the builders had in view
(were it not certain, from what Herodotus tells us, that
the first only was their building rule), how easy it is to
find such relations if we only look carefully for them,
for two out of the three are certainly accidental. So
that apart from the evidence of Herodotus, we should
be free to reject all three, on the sound plea that since
coincidence can so readily be detected, no reliance
can be placed upon any argument from mere coinci-
dence.
Then, again, according to the measurements just
negatived, there were exactly as many cubits of 25
inches in each side as there are days in the year, or
36,524 inches in the circuit of the base. One would
have said that if this were really proved, and if the height
were determined by any one of the three geometrical
rules just indicated, all the dimensions of the Great
Pyramid, as a whole, were determined once for all. But
even in the early days of the pyramid religion, the
pyramidalists were not content with this. They found
that the two diagonals of the square base together con-
tained as many inches as there are years in the Great
Precessional Period, and that the height contained as
APPENDIX B.
197
many inches as there are in the one thousand-millionth
part of the sun's distance; though, of course, if these rela-
tions really hold, they indicate coincidences, and very
singular ones too, entirely outside of the pyramid. Ast
thus :-Take one-fourth the number of days in the year,
and double the square of this number; the square root
of the product equals half the number of years in the
Great Precessional Period. And again, taken 100 times
the number of days in the year, and reduce the number
thus obtained in the same ratio that the radius is less
than the circumference of a circle; you will then have a
number equal to the number of inches which there are in
one thousand-millionth part of the sun's distance. These
two relations exist quite independently of the pyramid,
and, so seen, even pyramidalists must admit that they
are but singular numerical coincidences. They have not
a particle of real significance, any more than this one,
which I make pyramidal (by a very transparent device)
merely to show how easy it is to work such things:-
Take the square base of the pyramid, and divide each
side into as many parts as the pyramid has faces. Join
the corresponding divisions of opposite sides of the base
so that the base is divided into sixteen squares. In each
of these squares, save one, place a number (after the
manner of the abomination of desolation to which in our
own post-pyramidal days hath been assigned the name
of the 'Fifteen Puzzle')—then it may be shown that the
number of arrangements which can be made of these
fifteen numbers in the aforesaid sixteen squares is equal
to the number of miles separating our solar system
198
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
from that star which, according to the best Egyptolo-
gical investigations of the date of the Great Pyramid,
shone, at its meridional culmination, directly down
the Great Gallery and its prolongation the ascending
passage.
Then comes my ingenious and (outside the pyramid)
scientific friend, Mr. Baxendell, who, accepting the pyra-
mid dimensions assigned by Professor Smyth, finds other
relations which they fulfil equally well, showing, of course,
other singular coincidences existing quite independently
of the pyramid. Nay, he finds several independent
coincidences for each dimension, failing, apparently,
to notice that the most remarkable feature of his paper
-the singular closeness of the numerical results-exists
(scarcely in diminished degree), if the pyramid be left
entirely out of the question. Take, for instance, what
I find many regard as singularly impressive, the six
different formula, by which he gets out 1881'59 as the
number of inches in the length of the Grand Gallery
(which I need hardly say is not known to anything
like this degree of exactitude). They are as follows:-
Π
Π
1 / 130
24/3
.3
2
25,000
75 SM
S2π √ πT
400,000
2 √ 105
So²π √ π
=1881'59.
2
400,000η² 400,000e2n
How terrible these formulæ appear, in conjunction
with the circumstance, that by taking dates for the Fall,
the Exodus, and the birth of Christ, not quite agreeing
with those approved by recognised theological authorities,
APPENDIX B.
199
σ
the length of the descending and ascending passages cor-
respond so closely with the intervals between the first and
second and the second and third of those events (years
representing inches), as to compel us to believe that the
Christian dispensation cannot last more years than there
are inches in the Grand Gallery! Now these formulæ,
when analysed, are found to indicate a number of really
curious coincidences between the numbers representing
S, the sun's distance, M the moon's, s the sun's
diameter, e the earth's (equatorial), o the diameter of the
sun's liquid body—quietly assumed, for we know nothing
about it another terrestrial diameter, and the ratio.
of the circumference to a diameter of a circle. If the
pyramid had no existence, these curious coincidences
would remain. The fact that they exist, and are in
themselves so singular, shows simply how little value
there is in the argument from mere coincidence. Given
ten or twenty numbers taken at random from different
columns of the 'Times' newspaper, or the dimensions
of a house, or field, or a piece of furniture, or, in fine,
taken from anywhere we like, it will be found that with a
little patience, any number of coincidences may be found
among the numbers themselves, or connecting them with
any other set of nurabers, with the dimensions of the
solar system, with the volumes, diameters, densities, &c.,
of the planets, or, in fine, with whatsoever we please.
One of the best proofs ever given of this is found in the
multitude of relations, independent of the pyramid,
which have turned up while pyramidalists have been en-
deavouring to connect the pyramid with the solar system.
These coincidences are altogether more curious than any
200
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
coincidence between the pyramid and astronomical
numbers; the former are as close and remarkable as they
are real, the latter, which are only imaginary, have only
been established by the process which schoolboys call
'fudging '—and now new measures have left the work
to be done all over again.
201
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
•
It may be assumed, with Ideler, that the week has originated
from the length of the synodic months .. and that reference to
the planetary series, together with planetary days and hours, belong
to an entirely different period of advanced and speculative culture.-
HUMBOLDT (Cosmos).
I PROPOSE in this essay to consider how the week
probably had its origin, presenting, as occasion
serves, such subsidiary evidence as can be derived
from history or tradition. Usually this and kindred
subjects have been dealt with à posteriori. Observ-
ances, festivals, chronological arrangements, and so
forth, known or recorded to have been adopted by
various nations, have been examined, and an in-
quiry made into their significance. The result
has not been altogether satisfactory. Many inte-
resting facts have been brought to light as research
has proceeded, and several elaborate theories have
been advanced on nearly every point of chronolo-
gical research. Any one of these theories, ex-
amined alone, seems to be established almost
beyond dispute by the number of facts seemingly
202
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
attesting in its favour; but when we find that for
another and yet another theory a similar array of
facts can be adduced, we lose faith in all theories
thus supported. At least those only retain their
belief in a theory of the kind who have given so
much care to its preparation that they have had
no time to examine the evidence favouring other
theories.
On the other hand, there is much to be said in
favour of an à priori method of dealing with
ancient chronological arrangements. We know
certainly how the heavens appeared to men of old
times; if occasion arise we can determine readily
and certainly the exact aspect of the heavens at
any given place and time; we know generally
the conditions under which the first observations
of the heavens must have been made; hence we
can infer, not unsafely, what particular objects
would have been first noted, or would have been
early chosen as time-measures; what difficulties
would have presented themselves as time pro-
ceeded; and how such difficulties would have been
met.
The inquiry, let me remark at the outset, has
an interest other than that depending on chrono-
logical relations. I know of none better suited to
commend to our attention the movements of the
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
203
heavenly bodies, which, as Carlyle has remarked, I
think, though taking place all the time around us,
are not half-known to most of us. As civilisation
indeed progresses, the proportion of persons ac-
quainted with the motions of the heavenly bodies.
becomes less and less; both because artificial
measures of time come more generally into use,
and because fewer persons in proportion are en-
gaged out of doors at night under conditions
making the movements of the heavens worth
observing. Even the increased interest taken of
late in the study of astronomy has not tended, I
believe, to increase the number who have a familiar
acquaintance with the heavenly bodies and their
motions. So soon as a student of astronomy sets
up an observatory, indeed, he is more likely to
forget what he already knows about ordinary
celestial phenomena than to pay closer attention
to them. If he wants to observe a particular star
or planet, he does not turn to the heavens-one
may almost say indeed, strange though it sounds,
that the heavens are the last place he would think
of looking at; he simply sets the circles of his
telescope aright, knowing that the star or planet
he wants will then be in the field of view. The
telescope is as often as not turned to the object
before the door of the revolving dome has been
204
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
opened that is, while no part of the sky is in
view.
It is precisely because in old times matters
must have been entirely different, and familiarity
with astronomical facts much more important to
persons not themselves engaged in the study of
astronomy, that the method of inquiry which I
propose now to pursue respecting the origin of the
week is so full of promise. If we will but put
ourselves mentally in the position of the shepherds
and tillers of the soil in old times, we can tell
precisely what they were likely to notice, in what
order, and in what way.
In the first place, I think, it will appear that
some division of the month analogous to the week
must have been suggested as a measure of time
long before the year. Commonly the year is taken
as either the first and most obvious of all time-
measures, or else as only second to the day. But
in its astronomical aspect the year is not a véry
obvious division of time. I am not here speaking,
be it understood, of the exact determination of the
length of the year. That, of necessity, was a work
requiring much time, and could only have been
successfully achieved by astronomers of consider-
able skill. I am referring to the commonplace
year, the ordinary progression of those celestial
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
205
phenomena which mark the changes of the seasons.
As Whewell well remarks of the year, the repeti-
tion of similar circumstances at equal intervals is
less manifest in this case (than in that of the day),
and, the intervals being much longer, some exertion
of memory becomes requisite in order that the
recurrence may be perceived. A child might easily
be persuaded that successive years were of unequal
length; or, if the summer were cold, and the
spring and autumn warm, might be made to be-
lieve, if all who spoke in its hearing agreed to
support the delusion, that one year was two. Of
course the recurrence of events characterising the
natural year is far too obvious to have been over-
looked even before men began to observe the
heavenly bodies at all. The tiller of the soil must
observe the right time to plant seeds of various
kinds that they may receive the right proportion
of the summer's heat; the herdsman could not but
note the times when his flocks and herds brought
forth their young. But no definite way of noting
the progress of the year by the movements of the
sun or stars¹ would probably have suggested itself
until some time after the moon's motions had been
There are many reasons for believing, as I may one day take
an opportunity of showing, that the year was first measured by
the stars, not by the sun.
206
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
used as means of measuring time. The lunar
changes, on the other hand, are very striking and
obvious; they can be readily watched, and they
are marked by easily determinable stages. 'It
appears more easy,' says Whewell, and in earlier
stages of civilisation (it was) more common, to
count time by moons than by years.'
It has indeed been suggested that the moon's
use as a measurer of time was from the earliest
ages so obvious that the Greek words men for
month, mēnē for moon (less common, however,
than selēnē), and the Latin mensis for month,
should be associated with the Latin verb to measure
(metior, mensus sum, &c.). Cicero says that months
were called menses, ‘quia mensa spatia conficiunt,'
because they complete measured spaces. Other
etymologists, says Whewell, connect these words
'with the Hebrew manah, to measure.' Note also.
the measure of value, maneh,-' twenty shekels,
five-and-twenty shekels, fifteen shekels shall be
your maneh, or mna' (Ezek. xlv. 12). Again, the
name manna is given to the food found in the
desert, by some interpreted a portion.' The word
mene, or mna, in the warning, Mene, tekel, phares,
was translated numbered.' With the same word
is connected the Arabic Al-manac, or Almanach.
Whewell points out that 'if we are to attempt to
(
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
207
ascend to the earlier conditions of language, we
must conceive it probable that men would have a
name for a most conspicuous object, the moon,
before they would have a verb denoting the very
abstract and general notion, to measure.' This is
true; but it does not follow that the moon may
not have received a name implying her quality as
a measurer long after she was first named. For
the idea of using the moon as a measurer of time
must as certainly have followed the conception of
the abstract idea of measurement, as this concep-
tion must have followed the recognition of the
moon as an object of observation. It is note-
worthy, indeed, that in the Greek the moon has
two names-one, more usual, selēnē, from which
the Latins derived the name luna; the other,
mene, certainly connected with mẽn, for month. It
seems almost certain that they, and those from
whom they derived the usage, had come to regard
the moon's quality as a time-measurer as distinct
from her quality as an ornament of the night. To
this second term for the moon Whewell's remark
does not apply, or rather, his remark suggests the
true explanation to be that very derivation of the
words mene, mensis, month, moon, &c., from a word.
1
To these may be added the Sanskrit masa, the Zend mao, the
Persian mah, the Gothic mena, the Erse mios, and the Lithuanian
mienu.
208
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
signifying to measure,' which he oppugns. Even
if this view be rejected, we may yet regard the
words signifying mensuration (measurement and
numbering) as derived from a name for the moon,
months, &c.—a circumstance which would indicate
the recognised character of the moon as a time-
measurer even more significantly than the converse
derivation.
It is noteworthy that of all the phenomena
obvious to observation, the motions of the moon
are those which most directly suggest the idea of
measurement. The earth's rotation on her axis is
in reality much more uniform than the moon's
circling motion around the earth; but to ordinary
observation the recurrence of day and night seems
rather to suggest the idea of inequality than that
of the uniform subdivision of time. For the
lengths of day and night are seldom equal to each
other, and are constantly varying. The daily
motions of the fixed stars are more uniform than
the moon's, and, if carefully noted, afford an
almost perfect uniformity of time-measurement.
But instruments of some kind are necessary to
show that this is the case. The moon, on the
other hand, measures off time in an obvious and
striking manner, and, to ordinary observation, with
perfect uniformity. In measuring time, the moon
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
209
suggests also the idea of numerical measurement.
And measures of length, surface, volume, and so
forth, could more readily have been derived in
ancient times from the moon's motions than in any
other manner. In precisely the same way that now,
in Great Britain, all our measures,' without excep-
tion, are derived from the daily motion of the
stars, so in old times the more obvious motions
of the moon could have been used, and were pro-
bably used, to give the measures required in those
days.
¹ Even our measures of the value of money depend on the ob-
served motions of the stars. As I pointed out in my essay 'Our
Chief Timepiece Losing Time' (Light Science for Leisure Hours),
'when we come to inquire closely into the question of a sovereign's
intrinsic value, we find ourselves led to the diurnal motion of the
stars by no very long or intricate path.' For a sovereign is a coin.
containing so many grains of gold mixed with so many grains of
alloy. A grain is the weight of such and such a volume of a certain
standard substance—that is, so many cubic inches, or parts of a
cubic inch, of that substance. An inch is determined as a certain
fraction of the length of a pendulum vibrating seconds in the latitude
of London. A second is a certain portion of a mean solar day, and
is practically determined by a reference to what is called a sidereal
day the interval, namely, between the successive passages by the
same star across the celestial meridian of any fixed place. This
interval is assumed to be constant, and is in fact very nearly so.
Strangely enough, the moon, the older measure of time, is, by her
attraction on the waters of this earth, constantly tending to modify
this nearly constant quantity--the earth's rotation. For the resist-
ance of the tidal wave acts as a break, constantly retarding the
earth's turning motion-though so slowly, that 1,500 millions of
years would be required to lengthen the terrestrial day by one full
hour.
P
210
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
If, then, the names of the moon,' 'months,'
and so forth, were not originally derived from the
idea of measurement, it is nevertheless certain that
the moon must, from the very earliest times, have
been regarded as par excellence, the measurer. The
à priori reasons for expecting that the moon's
name, or one of her names, would be thus derived,
seem to me to add greatly to the probability of
this derivation, which has been inferred from the
actual co-existence of such names as mene for the
moon; men, mensis, &c. (see previous note), for
the month; mna, maneh, mensus (root mens) for
measurement.
The circling motion of the moon round the
earth being noted from the very earliest time, it is
certain that, very soon after, men would think of
subdividing the moon's circuit. The nights when
there was no moon would be distinguished in a
very marked way from those in which the moon
was full, or nearly so, and thus the lunar month
would be obviously marked off into two halves,
each about a fortnight in length. Something ana-
logous to this first subdivision is to be recognised
in a circumstance which I may one day have to
deal with more at length, the subdivision of the
year into two halves-one in which the Pleiades
were above the horizon and visible at sunset, the
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
2II
other when they were below the horizon. There
would be the bright half and the dark half of the
month (so far as the nights were concerned); and
it must be remembered that these would not be
unimportant distinctions to the men of old time,
nor mere matters of scientific observation. To the
shepherd the distinction between a moonlit and a
moonless night must have been very noteworthy.
All his cares would be doubled when the moon
was not shining, all lightened when she was nearly
full. A poet in our time singing the glories of
the moonlit night might be apt to forget the value
of the light to the herdsman; but in old times
this must have been the chief thought in connec-
tion with such a night. Thus we find Homer, after
describing the beauty of a moonlight night, in a
noble passage (mis-translated by Pope, but nobly
rendered by Tennyson), closing his description
with the words-
The shepherd gladdens in his heart.
We can well understand, indeed, that, according to
tradition, the first astronomers in every nation
were shepherds.
It might seem at a first view that the division
of the months into two parts would be most con-
veniently marked by the moon (1) coming to full,
P 2
212
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
and (2) disappearing. But apart from the con-
sideration just mentioned, showing the probability
that the first division would be into the bright half
and the dark half, it is easily seen that neither the
full phase, nor what is called technically 'new' (in
reality the absolute disappearance of the moon),
could be conveniently determined with anything
like precision. The moon looks full a day or two
before and a day or two after she really is full.
The time of the moon's coming to the same part
of the sky as the sun, again, though it can be in-
ferred by noting when she first disappeared and
when she first reappeared, is not obviously indi-
cated, or, which is the essential point, so mani-
fested as to afford, at the time, an indication of the
moon's reaching that special stage of her progress.
If a clock were so constructed that time were in-
dicated by the rotation of a globe half white half
black, and so situated that the observer could not
be certain when the white side was fully turned
towards him, it is certain he would not observe
that phase for determining time exactly. If he
were not only uncertain when the black side was
fully turned towards him, but could not ascertain
this at all until some little time after the white side
began to come into view again on one side (having
disappeared on the other shortly before), he would
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
213
be still less likely to observe the black phase as an
epoch.
If we consider what the owner of such a time-
piece would be apt to do, or rather would be
certain to do, we shall not be long in doubt as to
the course which the shepherds of old time would
have followed. The only phases which such a
clock would show with anything like precision
would be those two in which one half the globe.
exactly would be white and the other black. Not
only would either of these be a perfectly definite
phase marked unmistakably by the straightness of
the separating line between black and white, but
also the rate of change would at these times be
most rapid. The middle of the separating line,
or terminator in the moon's case, is at all times
travelling athwart the face of our satellite, but
most quickly when crossing the middle of her disc.
Apart, then, from the consideration already men-
tioned, which would lead the first observers to
divide the month into a dark and a light half, the
aspect of the moon's face so varied before their
eyes as to suggest, or, one may say, to force upon
them, the plan of dividing her course at the
quarters, when she is half full increasing and half
full diminishing.
Let us pause for a moment to see whether this
214
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
first result, to which we have been led by purely
à priori considerations, accords with any evidence
from tradition. We might very well fail to find
such evidence, simply because all the earlier and
less precise ways of dividing time (of which this
certainly would be one), giving way, as they must
inevitably do, to more exact time-measurers, might
leave no trace whatever of their existence. It is,
therefore, the more remarkable and in a sense
fortunate, that in two cases we find clear evidence
of the division of the lunar month into two halves,
and in the precise manner above indicated. Max
Müller, remarking on the week, says that he has
found no trace of any such division in the ancient
Vedic literature of the Hindoos, but the month is
divided into two according to the moon--the clear
half and the obscure half.' (Flammarion, from
whom I take the reference to Max Müller, says, 'the
clear half from new to full, and the obscure half
from full to new;' but this is manifestly incorrect,
1 It is noteworthy that in the Assyrian tablets lately deciphered
by Mr. G. Smith (which are copies of Babylonian originals older
probably than the books of Job and Genesis), we find in the account
of the creation of the sun, moon, and stars, from which the account.
in Genesis was probably abridged, special reference to the moon's
change from the horned to the gibbous phase-'At the beginning
of the month, at the rising of the night, his horns are breaking
through, and shine on the heaven; on the ninth day to a circle he
begins to swell.'
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
215
the half of the month from new to full having
neither more nor less light by night than the half
from full to new.) A similar division has been
found among the Aztecs.
The next step would naturally be the division
of each half, the bright and the dark half, into two
equal parts. In fact, this would be done at the
same time, in most cases (that is, among most
nations), that the month was divided into two.
The division at half full increasing and half full
decreasing would be the more exact; but once
made would afford the means of determining the
times of 'full' and 'new.' During the first few
months after men had noticed closely the times of
half full, they would perceive that between fourteen
and fifteen days separated these times, so that
'full' and 'new' came about seven days after the
times of half-moon.
All this would be comparatively rough work.
Herdsmen, and perhaps the tillers of the soil in
harvest time, would perceive that the lunar month,
their ordinary measure of time, was naturally divi-
sible into four quarters, two epochs (the half-moons)
limiting which were neatly defined, while the inter-
mediate two could be easily inferred. They would
fall into the habit of dividing the months into
quarters in this rough way long before they began
216
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
to look for some connection between the length of
the month and of the day, precisely as men (later,
no doubt) divided the year roughly into four
seasons, and the seasons into months, long before
they had formed precise notions as to the number
of months in years and seasons. We shall see
presently that in each case, so soon as they tried
to connect two measures of time-the month and
day in one case, the year and month in the other—
similar difficulties presented themselves. We shall
see also that while similar ways of meeting these
difficulties naturally occurred to men, these natural
methods of dealing with the difficulties were those
actually followed in one case certainly, and (to
show which is the object of the present paper)
most probably in the other also.
Men, at least those who were given to the habit
of enumeration, would have found out that there
are some 29 days in each lunar month, not long.
after they had regarded the month as divided into
four parts, and long before they had thought of
connecting months and days together. After a
while, however, the occasion of some such connec-
tion would arise. It might arise in many different
ways. The most likely occasion, perhaps, would
be the necessity of apportioning work to those
employed as herdsmen or in tilling the soil. They
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
217
would be engaged probably (so soon as the simplest
of all engagements, by the day, required some
extension) by the month. In fact, one may say
that certainly the hiring of labourers for agricul-
tural and pastoral work must have been by the
month almost from the beginning.¹
But from the beginning of hiring also, it must
have become necessary to measure the month by
days. Herdsmen and labourers could not have
had their terms of labour defined by the actual
observation of the lunar phases, though these
that contained in
abode with Laban
The earliest record we have of hiring is
Genesis, chap. xxix. We read there that Jacob
the space of a month,' serving him without wages. Then Laban
said to Jacob, 'Because thou art my brother, shouldst thou there-
fore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?' At
this time, it is worth noting, the number seven had come to be re-
garded as convenient in hiring, for Jacob said, 'I will serve thee
seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. . . . And Jacob
served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few
days, for the love he had to her.' It is obvious that the length of
service was regarded by the narrator as a special proof of Jacob's
love for Rachel. For an ordinary wage a man would work seven
days; for his love Jacob worked seven years. That this was so is
shown by Laban's calling the term a week. After giving Leah in-
stead of Rachel, he says, 'Fulfil her week, and we will give thee
this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven
other years.
And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week.' The week
must have been a customary term of engagement long before this,
or it would not be thus spoken of. Servants (the herdsmen of
Abram's cattle, and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle) are mentioned
somewhat earlier. The word 'week' is not used earlier than in
the passage just quoted; and there is no reference to a weekly day
of rest before the Exodus.
218
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
might have shown them, in a rough sort of way,
how their term of labour was passing on.
Thus, at length, a month of days and its sub-
divisions must have come into use. The subdivi-
sions would almost certainly correspond with the
quarters already indicated; and the week of seven
days is the nearest approach in an exact number
of days to the quarter of a month. Four periods.
of eight days exceed a lunar month by two and
a-half days; while four periods of seven days
exceed a lunar month by only one and a-half days.
Now there would be two distinct ways in which
the division of the month into four weeks might
be arranged.
First, the month might be taken as a constant
measure of time, and four weeks, of seven days
each, suitably placed in each month, so that the
extra day and a-half, or (nearly enough) three days
in two months, could be intercalated. Thus in
one month a day could be left out at the time of
new moon, and in the next two days, one day
alternating with two in successive months: if the
remaining part of each month were divided into
four equal parts of seven days in each, the arrange-
ment would correspond closely enough with the
progress of the months to serve for a considerable
time before fresh intercalation was required. Two
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
219
lunar months would thus be counted as fifty-nine
days, falling short of the truth by one hour, twenty-
eight minutes, and nearly eight seconds. On four
lunar months the difference would be nearly three
hours, and in thirty-two lunar months nearly one
day. So that if in the first month two days, in
the second one, in the third two, in the fourth one,
and so on—in the thirty-first two, and in the thirty-
second two (instead of one), were intercalated, the
total error in those thirty-two months, or about
two years and five calendar months of our present
time, would be only about half-an-hour.
We find traces of a former arrangement by
which the time of new moon was separated, as
it were, from the rest of the lunar month. The
occurrence of new moon marked in most of the old
systems a time of rest and religious worship, pro-
bably, almost certainly, arising originally from the
worship of the heavenly bodies as deities. But the
chronological arrangements, probably connected
with this usage at first, have left few traces of their
existence. The usage presents manifest imperfec-
tions as part of a chronological system, and must
soon have been abandoned by the more skilful of
those who sought among the celestial bodies for
the means of measuring time. The Greeks adopted
such an arrangement as I have above indicated.
220
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
'The last day of each lunar month,' Whewell says,
'was called by them "the old and new," as belong-
ing to both the waning and the reappearing moon,
and their festivals and sacrifices, as determined by
the calendar, were conceived to be necessarily con-
nected with the same periods of the cycles of the
sun and moon.' 'The laws and oracles,' says Ge-
minus, 'which directed that they should in sacri-
fices observe three things, months, days, and years,
were so understood.' With this permission, a cor-
rect system of intercalation became a religious
duty. Aratus, in a passage quoted by Geminus,
says of the moon
As still her shifting visage changing turns,
By her we count the monthly round of morns.
But the religious duty of properly intercalating a
day every thirty-two months, to correct for the
difference between two lunar months and fifty-nine
days, would seem not to have been properly at-
tended to, for Aristophanes in the 'Clouds' makes
the moon complain thus:-
CHORUS OF CLOUDS.
The moon by us to you her greeting sends,
But bids us say that she's an ill-used moon,
And takes it much amiss that you should still
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
221
Shuffle her days, and turn them topsy-turvy ;
And that the gods, who know their feast-days well,
By your false count are sent home supperless,
And scold and storm at her for your neglect.
The second usage would be the more conve-
nient. Perceiving, as they would by this time have
done, that the lunar month does not contain an
exact number of days, or of half-days, men would
recognise the uselessness of attempting to use any
subdivision of the month, month by month, and
would simply take the week of seven days as the
nearest approach to the convenient subdivision, the
quarter-month, and let that period run on con-
tinually, without concerning themselves with the
fact that each new month began on a different day
of the week. In fact, this corresponds precisely
with what has been done in the case of the year.
The necessity of adopting some arrangement
for periodical rest would render the division of time
into short periods of unvarying length desirable.
And, as herdsmen and labourers were early engaged
by the lunar month, and afterwards by its sub-
division the quarter-month, it is very probable that
the beginning of each month would first be chosen
as a suitable time for a rest, while later one day
in each week would be taken as a rest day. This
would not be by any means inconsistent with the
222
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
belief that from very early times a religious signi-
ficance was given to the monthly and weekly
resting days. Almost every observance of times,
and seasons, and days had its first origin, most
probably, in agricultural and pastoral customs. It
was only after a long period had elapsed that
arrangements, originally adopted as convenient,
became so sanctioned by long habit that a religious
meaning was attached to them. Assuredly, what-
ever opinion may be formed about the Sabbath
rest, only one can be formed about the 'new moon'
rest. That certainly had its origin in the lunar
motions and their relation to the convenience and
habits of outdoor workers. It seems altogether
reasonable, apart from the evidence à priori and à
posteriori in favour of the conclusion, to adopt a
similar explanation of the weekly rest, constantly
associated as we find it with the rest at the time of
new moon.
This explanation implies that the week would
almost certainly be adopted as a measure of time
by every nation which paid any attention to the
subject of time-measurement. Now we know that
no trace of the week exists among the records of
some nations, while in others the week was at
least only a subordinate time-measure. Among
the earlier Egyptians the month was divided into
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
223
periods of ten days each, and hitherto no direct
evidence has been found to show that a seven-day
1
period was used by them. The Chinese divided
the month similarly. Among the Babylonians the
month was divided into periods of five days, six
such periods in each month, and also into weeks of
seven days. The same double arrangement was
adopted by the Hebrews.
It is easy to show, however, that the division of
the month into six equal or nearly equal parts,
five days in each, was not arrived at in a similar
way to the division into four parts, and was a later
method. We have seen how the quarters of the
lunar orbit are determined at 'half-full,' by the
boundary between the light and dark half crossing
the middle of the moon's disc. Content at first to
determine this ocularly, observers would after a
time devise simply methods of making more exact
determinations. Such devices as Ferguson, the
self-taught Scottish peasant, employed to deter-
mine the positions of the stars, would be likely to
occur to the Chaldæan shepherds in old times.
That astronomer (for he well merits the name,
¹ Laplace asserts of the Egyptians that they used a period of
seven days; but he misunderstood the account given by Dion Cassius,
who referred to the astronomers of the Alexandrian school, not to
the ancient Egyptians,
224
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
when we consider under what disadvantages he
achieved success) constructed a frame across which
slender threads could be shifted, so that their inter-
sections should coincide with the apparent places
of stars. A frame similarly constructed might be
made to carry four such threads forming a square,
which properly placed would just seem to enclose
the moon's disc, while a fifth thread parallel to two
sides of the square and midway between them
could be made to coincide with the straight edge
of the half-moon,-and thus the exact time of half-
moon could be easily determined. Now when the
separating line or arc between light and darkness
fell otherwise, the fifth thread might be made to
show exactly how far across this separating arc
(that is, its middle point) had travelled, and thence
how far the month had progressed,-if the observer
had some little knowledge of trigonometry. If he
had no such knowledge, but were acquainted only
with the simpler geometrical relations of lines and
circles, there would only be two other cases, besides
that of the half-moon, with which he could deal by
this simple method, or some modification of it.
When the middle point of the arc between light
and darkness has travelled exactly one-fourth of
the way across the moon's disc, the moon has gone
one-third of the way from 'new' to 'full.' When
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
225
(
that middle point has travelled exactly three-
fourths of the way across, the moon has gone two-
thirds of the way from 'new' to 'full.' Either
stage can be determined almost as easily with the
frame and threads, or some such contrivance, as
the time of half-moon, and similarly of the cor-
responding stages from 'full' to 'new.' Thus,
including new and full, we have six stages in the
moon's complete circuit. She starts from ' new ;'
when she has gone one-sixth of the way round, the
advancing arc of light has travelled one-fourth of
the way across her disc; when she has gone two-
sixths round, it has travelled three-fourths of the
way across then comes full,' corresponding to
half-way round; then, at four-sixths of the way
round, the receding edge is one-fourth of the way
back across the moon's disc; at five-sixths it is
three-fourths of the way back; and lastly she com-
pletes her circuit at 'new' again. Each stage of
her journey lasts one-sixth of a lunar month; or
five days, less about two hours. Thus five days
more nearly represents one of these stages than a
week represents a quarter of a lunar month. For
a week falls short of a quarter of a month by more
than nine hours, while five days exceeds a sixth of
a month by rather less than two hours. Moreover,
while six periods of five days exceed a month by
226
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
less than half-a-day, four weeks fall short of a month
by more than a day and a-half.¹
We can very well understand, then, that the
division of the lunar month into six parts, each of
five days, or into three parts, each of ten days,
should have been early suggested by astronomers,
as an improvement on the comparatively rough
division of the month into four equal parts. We
can equally understand that where the latter method
had been long in use, where it had become con-
nected with the system of hiring (one day's rest
being allowed in each quarter-month), and espe-
cially where it had become associated with religious
observances, the new method would be stoutly
resisted. It would seem that a contest between
advocates of a five days' period and those of a
seven days' period arose in early times, and was
carried on with considerable bitterness. There are
those who find in the Great Pyramid of Egypt the
record of such a struggle, and evidence that finally
the seven days' period came to be distinguished, as
a sacred time-measure, from the five days' period,
1 The five days' period has as great an advantage over the week
in more exactly dividing the year, as it has in dividing the month,
since, while fifty-two weeks fall short of a year by nearly a day and
a-quarter, seventy-three periods of five days only fall short of a year
by a quarter of a day. But the number 52 has the great advantage
over 73 of being subdivisible into four thirteens.
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
227
which was regarded doubtless as a profane though
perhaps a more exact and scientific subdivision. In
the Jewish religious system, however, both sub-
divisions appear.
A singular piece of evidence has quite recently
been obtained respecting the week of the Baby-
lonians, which, while illustrating what I have above
shown about the week and the five days' period,
seems to afford some explanation of the week of
weeks. So far as I know, it has not been considered
in this particular light before. We learn from Pro-
fessor Sayce that the Babylonians called the 7th,
14th, 19th, 21st, and 28th days of each month
sabbatu, or day of rest. Here clearly the 7th, 14th,
21st, and 28th correspond to the same day of the
week; but how does the 19th fall into the series?
It appears to me-though I must admit that I
only make a guess in the matter, knowing of no
independent evidence to favour the idea-that the
19th day of a month became a day of rest as being
the forty-ninth day from the beginning of the pre-
ceding month. It was, in fact, from the preceding
month, the seventh seventh day, or the sabbath of
sabbaths. So to regard it, however, that is, to
make the 19th day of one month the forty-ninth
from the beginning of the preceding,—it is neces-
sary that the length of the month should be regarded
Q 2
228
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
as thirty days (the difference between forty-nine
days and nineteen).
While in any nation the month and its sub-
divisions would thus, in all probability, be dealt
with,—the week almost inevitably becoming, for a
while at least, a measure of time, and in most cases
remaining so long in use as to obtain an unshaken
hold on the people from the mere effect of custom,
—another way of dealing with the moon's motions
would certainly have been recognised.
Watching the moon, night after night, men
would soon perceive that she travels among the
stars. It is not easy to determine, from à priori
considerations, at what particular stage of observa-
tional progress the stars, which are scattered over
the background on which the heavenly bodies.
travel, would be specially noticed as objects likely
to help men in the measurement of time, the deter-
mination of seasons, and so forth. On the whole it
seems likely that the observation of the stars for
this purpose would come rather later than the first
rough determinations of the year, and therefore
considerably later (if the above reasoning is just)
than the determination of the month. The suita-
bility of the stars for many purposes connected
with the measurement of time is not a circumstance
which obtrudes itself on the attention. Many
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
229
years might well pass before men would notice
that at the same season of the year the same stars
are seen at corresponding hours of the night; for
this is less striking than the regular variation of the
sun's altitude, &c., as the year progresses. This
would be true even if we assumed that from the
beginning certain marked star groups were recog-
nised and remembered at each return to particular
positions on the sky. But it is unlikely that this
happened until long after such rough observations
as I have described above had made considerable
progress. There is only one group of stars respect-
ing which any exception can probably be made,—
viz. the Pleiades, a group which, being both con-
spicuous and unique in the heavens, must very early
have been recognised and remembered. But even
in the case of the Pleiades (though almost certainly
it was the first known star group, while most
probably it was the object which led to the first
precise determination of the year's length) a con-
siderable time must have passed before the regular
return of the group, at times corresponding to par-
ticular parts of the year of seasons, was recognised
by shepherds and tillers of the soil. Certainly the
moon's motions must have been earlier noted.
So soon, however, as men had begun to study
the fixed stars, to group them into constellations,
230
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
and to watch the motions of these groups athwart
the heavens, hour by hour, and (at the same hour)
night by night, they would note with interest the
motions of their special time-measurer, the moon,
amongst the stars.
They would find first that the moon circuits
the stellar heavens always in the same direction,
namely, from west to east, or in the direction con-
trary to that of the apparent diurnal motion which
she shares with all the celestial bodies. A very few
months would show that, speaking generally, the
moon keeps to one track round the heavens; but
possibly, even in so short a time, close observers
would perceive that she had slightly deviated from
the course she at first pursued. After a time this
would be clearly seen, and probably the observers
of those days may have supposed for a while that
the moon, getting farther and farther from her
original track, would eventually travel on a quite
different path. But with the further progress of
time, she would be found slowly to return to it.
And in the course of many years it would be
found that her path lies always, not in a certain
track round the celestial sphere, but in a certain.
zone or band, some twenty moon-breadths wide—
to which no doubt a special name would be given.
It was in reality the mid-zone of the present
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
231
zodiac, which is about thirty-five moon-breadths
wide. The central track of the moon's zone, which
may be called the lunar zodiac, is in reality the
track of the sun round the heavens. But the recog-
nition of the moon's zone would long precede either
the determination of the sun's path among the stars.
or that of the zodiac or planetary highway. The
distinction between the sun and moon in this
respect is well indicated in Job's words, 'If I beheld
the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in
brightness,'-the brightness of the sun preventing
man from determining his real course till astro-
nomy as a science had made considerable progress:
whereas the track of the moon among the stars is
obvious to every one who watches the moon, either
from night to night or even for a few hours on any
one night. The motions of the planets, again, and
indeed the very recognition of these wandering
stars, belong to an astronomy much more advanced
than that which we have been here dealing with.
Watching the moon's progress along her zone
of the stellar heavens night after night, the ob-
servers would perceive that she completes the
circuit in less than a month. Before many months
had passed they would have determined the period
of these circuits as between twenty-seven and
twenty-eight days. It is very likely that at first,
232
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
while their estimate of the true period was as yet
inexact, they would suppose that it lasted exactly
four weeks. We must remember that the natural
idea of the early observers would be that the
motions of the various celestial bodies did in reality
synchronise in some way; though how those mo-
tions synchronised might not easily be discovered.
They would suppose, and as a matter of fact we
know they did suppose, that the sun and moon
and stars were made to be for signs and seasons,
and for days and months and years. To imagine
that the celestial machinery contrived for man's
special benefit was in any sense imperfect would
have appeared very wicked. They would thus be
somewhat in the position of a person for whom a
clockmaker had constructed a very elaborate and
ingenious clock, showing a number of relations, as
the progress of the day, the hour, the minute, the
second, the years, the months, the seasons, the
tides, and so forth, but with no explanation of the
various dials. The owner of the clock would be
persuaded that all the various motions indicated on
the dials were intended for his special enlighten-
ment, though he would be unable for a long time
to make out their meaning, or might fail altogether.
So the first observers of the heavens must have
been thoroughly assured that the movements of
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
233
the sun, moon, planets, and stars were for measures
of time, and therefore synchronised (though in long
periods) with each other. We recognise a wider
system (a nobler scheme, one might say, if this
did not imply a degree of knowledge which we do
not really possess) in the actual motions of the
celestial bodies. But with the men of old times it
was different.
Most probably, then, perceiving that the moon
completes her circuit of the stellar heavens in a day
or two less than a lunar month, they would sup-
pose that it was this motion which the moon com-
pletes in twenty-eight days. Nor would they
detect the error of this view so readily as the
student of modern astronomy might suppose. The
practice of carrying on cycle after cycle till a
great number have been completed in order to
ascertain the true length of the cycle, obvious
though it now appears to us, would not be at all
an obvious resource to the first observers of the
heavens. Of course, if this method had been em-
ployed, it would soon have shown that the moon's
circuit of the stellar heavens is accomplished in
less than twenty-eight days. The excess of two-
thirds of a day in each circuit would mount up to
many days in many circuits, and would then be
recognised,-while after very many months the
234
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
exact value of the excess would be determined.
This, however, is a process belonging to much later
times than those we are considering. Watching
the moon's motions among the stars during one
lunation, the observer, unless very careful, would
note nothing to suggest that she is travelling round
at the rate of more than a complete circuit in
twenty-eight days. If he divided her zone into
twenty-eight equal parts, corresponding to her daily
journey, and as soon as she first appeared as a new
moon began to watch her progress through such of
these twenty-eight divisions as were visible at the
time (those on the sun's side of the heavens would.
of course not be visible), she would seem to travel
across one division in twenty-four hours very nearly.
As she herself obliterates from view all but the
brighter stars, it would be all the more difficult to
recognise the slight discrepancy actually existing,—
the fact really being that she requires only twenty-
three hours and about twenty-six minutes to tra-
verse a station, a discrepancy large enough in time,
but corresponding to very little progress on the
moon's part among the stars. Then in the next
month the observation would simply be repeated,
no comparison being made between the moon's
position among the stars when first seen in one
month and that which she had attained when last
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
235
seen in the preceding month. If this were done-
and this seems the natural way of observing the
moon's motions among the stars when astronomy
was yet but young-the discrepancy between the
period of circuit and four weeks would long remain
undetected. So long as this was the case, the
moon's roadway among the stars would be divided
into twenty-eight daily portions.
Accordingly, we find, in the early astronomy of
nearly all nations, a lunar zodiac divided into
twenty-eight constellations or lunar mansions. The
Chinese called the zodiac the Yellow Way, and
divided it into twenty-eight nakshatras. These
divisions or mansions were not neatly or precisely
defined, but, precisely as we should expect from
the comparative roughness of a system of astro-
nomy in which alone they could appear at all, were
irregular divisions, straggling far on either side of
the ecliptic, which should be the central circle of
the lunar roadway among the stars. The mansions
were named from the brightest stars in each; and
we are told that the sixteenth mansion was named
Vichaca, from a star in the Northern Crown, a con-
stellation almost as distant from the ecliptic as the
horizon is from a point half-way towards the point
overhead.
A similar division of the older zodiac was
236
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
adopted by Egyptian, Arabian, Persian, and Indian
astronomers. The Siamese, however, only reck-
oned twenty-seven, with from time to time an extra
one, called Abigiteen, or the intercalary mansion.
It would appear, however, from some statements
in their books, that they had twenty-eight lunar
constellations for certain classes of observation.
Probably, therefore, the use of twenty-seven, with
an occasional intercalary mansion, belonged to a
later period of their astronomical system, when
more careful observations than the earlier had shown
them that the moon circuits the stellar heavens in
about twenty-seven and one-third days..
It is important to observe that astronomers
were thus apt to change their usage, dropping either
wholly or in great part the use of arrangements
found to be imperfect. For, noting this, we shall
have less difficulty in understanding how the
twenty-eight lunar mansions of the older astronomy
gave place entirely among the Chaldæans to the
twelve signs of the zodiac-that is, the parts of the
zodiac traversed day by day by the moon gave
place to the parts of the zodiac traversed month by
month by the sun. Because the Chaldæan astro-
nomy has not the twenty-eight lunar mansions, it
is commonly assumed that this way of dividing the
zodiac was never used by them. But this conclusion
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
237
cannot safely be adopted. On the contrary, what we
have already ascertained respecting the Chaldæan
use of the week, besides what we should naturally
infer from à priori considerations, suggests that in
the first instance they, like other nations, divided
the zodiac into twenty-eight parts; but that later,
recognising the inaccuracy of this arrangement,
they abandoned it, and adopted the solar zodiacal
signs.
This corresponds closely with what the Persian
astronomers are known to have done. We read
that'the twenty-eight divisions among the Persians
(of which it may be noticed that the second was
formed by the Pleiades, and called Pervis) soon
gave way to the twelve, the names of which,
recorded in the works of Zoroaster, and therefore
not less ancient than he, were not quite the same
as those now used. They were the Lamb, the
Bull, the Twins, the Crab, the Lion, the Ear of
Corn, the Balance, the Scorpion, the Bow, the Sea
Goat, the Watering Pot, and the Fishes. The
Chinese also formed a set of twelve zodiacal signs,
which they named the Mouse, the Cow, the Tiger,
the Hare, the Dragon, the Serpent, the Horse, the
Sheep, the Monkey, the Cock, the Dog, and the
Pig.
It appears to me not unlikely that the change
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
from lunar to solar astronomy, from the use of the
month and week as chief measures of time to the
more difficult but much more scientific method of
employing the year for this purpose, was the
occasion of much ceremonial observance among
the Chaldæan astronomers. Probably elaborate
preparations were made for the change, and a
special time chosen for it. We should expect to
find that this time would have very direct reference
to the Pleiades, which must have been the year-
measuring constellation as certainly as the moon
had earlier been the time-measuring orb. It has
long seemed to me that it is to this great change,
which certainly took place, and must have been a
most important epoch in astronomy, that we must
refer those features of ancient astronomy which
have commonly been regarded as pointing to the
origin of the science itself. I cannot regard it as a
reasonable, still less as a probable assumption, that
astronomy sprung full formed into being, as the
ordinary theories on this subject would imply.
Great progress must have been made, and men
carefully trained in mathematical as well as ob-
servational astronomy must for centuries have
studied the subject, before it became possible to
decide upon those fundamental principles and
methods which have existed from the days of the
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
239
Chaldæan astronomers even until now. As to the
epoch of the real beginning of astronomy, then, we
have, in my opinion, no means of judging. The
epoch to which we really can point with some
degree of certainty- the year 2170 B.C., or there-
abouts—must belong, not to the infancy of astro-
nomy, but to an era when the science had made
considerable progress.
I have said that we should expect to find the
introduction of the new astronomy, the rejection
of the week as an astronomical period in favour of
the year, to be marked by some celestial event
having special reference to the Pleiades, the year-
measuring star-group. Whether the à priori con-
sideration here indicated is valid or not, may
perhaps be doubtful; but it is certain the epoch
above mentioned is related to the Pleiades in a
quite unmistakable manner. For at that epoch,
quam proximè, through the effects of that mighty
gyrational movement of the earth which causes
what is termed the precession of the equinoxes,
the star Alcyone, the brightest of the Pleiades and
nearly central in the group, was carried to such a
position that when the spring began the sun and
Alcyone rose to their highest in the southern skies
at the same instant of time.
Be this, however, as it may, it seems abun-
240
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
dantly clear that quite early in the progress of
astronomy, the more scientific and observant must
have recognised the unfitness of the week as an
astronomical measure of time. With the disap-
pearance of the week from astronomical systems
(the lunar 'quarters' being retained, however) the
week may be considered to have become what it
now is for ourselves, a civil and in some sense a
religious time-measure. That it should retain its
position in this character was to be expected, if we
consider the firm hold which civil measures once
established obtain among the generality of men,
and the still greater constancy with which men
retain religious observances. A struggle probably
took place between astronomers and the priest-
hood when first the solar zodiac came into use
instead of the lunar stations, and when an effort
was made to get rid of the week as a measure of
time. This seems to me to be indicated by many
passages in certain more or less mythological
records of the race through whom (directly) the
week has descended to us. But this part of the
subject introduces questions which cannot be satis-
factorily dealt with without a profound study of
those records in their mythological sense, and a
thorough investigation of philological relations in-
volved in the subject. Such researches, accom-
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
241
panied by the careful discussion of all such astro-
nomical relations as were found to be involved,
would, I feel satisfied, be richly rewarded. More
light will be thrown on the ancient systems of
astronomy and astrology by the careful study of
some of the Jewish Scriptures, and clearer light
will be thrown on the meaning of these books by
the consideration of astronomical and astrological
relations associated with them, than has heretofore
been supposed. The key to much that was myste-
rious in the older systems of religion has been
found in the consideration that to man as first he
rose above the condition of savagery, the grander
objects and processes of nature-earth, sea, and
sky, clouds and rain, winds and storms, the earth-
quake and the volcano, but, above and beyond all,
the heavenly bodies with their stately movements,
their inextricably intermingled periods, their mys-
tical symbolisms-all these must have appeared as
themselves divine, until a nobler conception pre-
sented them as but parts of a higher and more
mysterious Whole. In all the ancient systems of
religion we have begun to recognise the myths
which had their birth in those first natural concep-
tions of the Child-man. To this rule the ancient
religious system of the Hebrew race was no excep-
tion; but from their Chaldæan ancestors they de-
R
242
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK.
rived a nature-worship relating more directly to
the heavenly bodies than that of nations living
under less constant skies, and to whom other phe-
nomena were not less important, and therefore not
less significant of power, than the phenomena of
the starry heavens. So soon as we thus recognise
that Hebrew myths would, of necessity, be more
essentially astronomical than those of other na-
tions, we perceive that the Hebrew race was not
unlike other early races in having no mythology,
as Max Müller thought, but possessed a mytho-
logy less simply and readily interpreted than that
of other nations.
SATURN AND THE SABBATH OF
THE JEWS.
IN one of the most striking passages of his 'Study
of Sociology,' Herbert Spencer considers what
might be said of our age by an independent ob-
server living in the far future, supposing his state-
ments translated into our cumbrous language.'
..
"In some respects," says the future observer,
"their code of conduct seems not to have advanced
beyond, but to have gone back from the code of a
still more ancient people from whom their creed
was derived . . . The relations of their creed to
the creed of this ancient people are indeed difficult
to understand. . . . Not only did they, in the law
of retaliation, outdo the Jews, instead of obeying
the quite opposite principle of the teacher they
worshipped as divine, but they obeyed the Jewish
law, and disobeyed their divine teacher in other
ways,—as in the rigid observance of every seventh
day, which he had deliberately discountenanced.
. . . Their substantial adhesion to the creed they
R 2
244
SATURN AND THE
professedly repudiated, was clearly demonstrated
by this, that in each of their temples they fixed
up in some conspicuous place the Ten Command-
ments of the Jewish religion, while they rarely, if
ever, fixed up the two Christian Commandments
given instead of them. And yet," says the reporter,
after dilating on these strange facts, "though the
English were greatly given to missionary enter-
prises of all kinds, and though I sought diligently
among the records of these, I could find no trace
of a society for converting the English people from
Judaism to Christianity."'
It is, indeed, a strange circumstance that Chris-
tian teachings in our time respecting the observ-
ance of each seventh day should be at variance,
not only with what is known of the origin of the
observance of Sunday, as distinguished from the
Sabbath of the Jews, but even more emphatically
with the teachings of Christ, both as to the purpose
of a day of rest, and as to the manner in which the
poor should be considered. Our Sunday is in fact,
if not in origin, the Sabbath of the Jews, not the
Lord's Day of the Apostles; it is regarded, not as
a day set apart to refresh those who toil, but as
though man were made for its observance; while
the soul-wearying doom of the day is so ordered
as to affect chiefly the poorer classes, who want
SABBATH OF THE JEWS.
245
rest from work and anxiety, not rest from the
routine of social amusements, which are unknown
to them. But although the thoroughly non-Chris-
tian nature of our seventh day is remarkable in a
country professedly Christian, and although it is
a serious misfortune for us that an arrangement
which might be most beneficial to the working
classes is rendered mischievous by the way in
which it is carried out, I certainly have no purpose
here to discuss the vexed question of Sunday ob-
servance. There are some points, however, sug-
gested by Spencer's reference to the origin of our
weekly resting day, which are even more curious
than those on which he touches. We take our law
of weekly rest from Moses; we practically follow
Jewish observances in this matter: but in this,
except in so far as the contrast between Judaism
and Christianity is concerned, there is nothing in-
congruous. For the Jewish nation was of old the
sole Eastern nation whose priesthood taught the
worship of one God, and resisted the tendency of
the people to worship the gods of other nations.
But the real origin of the Jewish Sabbath was far
more singular. The observance was derived from
an Egyptian, and primarily from a Chaldæan
source. Moreover, an astrological origin may be
recognised in the practice; rest being enjoined
246
SATURN AND THE
by Egyptian priests on the seventh day, simply
because they regarded that day as a dies infaustus,
when it was unlucky to undertake any work.
It needs no very elaborate reasoning to prove
that the Jewish observance of the Sabbath began
during the sojourn in Egypt. Without entering
into the difficult question of the authorship and
date of the Pentateuch, we can perceive that the
history of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the Elo-
histic portion of the narrative, is introductory to
the account of the Jews' sojourn in Egypt and
exodus thence under their skilful and prudent
commander, Moses. It is incredible that the
person who combined these two accounts into one
history, including an exact record of the rules for
observing festivals, should have failed to add some
reference to the seventh day of rest when quoting
(from the Elohist) the ordinances which Abraham
and the other patriarchs were so carefully enjoined
to obey, if it really had been a point of duty in
patriarchal times to keep holy the seventh day.
In every injunction to the Israelites after they left
Egypt, the duty of keeping the Sabbath is strongly
dwelt upon. It not only became from this time
one of the commandments, but 'a sign between
the Lord and the children of Israel for ever.' In
the patriarchal times, on the contrary, we find no
SABBATH OF THE JEWS.
247
mention of it: the test of righteousness was the
worship of one God-the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. In the book of Job, again, no refer-
ence whatever is made to the observance of the
Sabbath; and this is the more remarkable because
Job makes 'solemn protestation of his integrity'
in several duties.
worship of God: 'If I beheld the sun when it
shined,' he says, 'or the moon walking in bright-
ness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed,
or my mouth hath kissed my hand' (the token
of worship), this also were an iniquity to be
punished by the judge: for I should have denied.
the God that is above.' But he says no word
about the observance which, after the exodus, is so
specially associated with the worship of God.
He claims integrity in the
It is, indeed, somewhat singular that the ob
servance of the Sabbath should be derived from
far remoter times, by those who insist on the literal
exactness of the Bible record, seeing that the Bible
distinctly assigns the exodus from Egypt as the
epoch when the observance had its origin. For
Moses, in solemnly reminding all Israel of the
covenant of Horeb, says :-
'Remember that thou wast a servant in the
land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought
thee out thence, through a mighty hand and by a
248
SATURN AND THE
stretched-out arm: therefore the Lord thy God
commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day.' -
(Deut. v. 15.)
And these words occupy the position in the
Fourth Commandment which, in Exodus xx. II,
is occupied by the words, 'For in six days the
Lord made heaven and earth,' &c.
Assigning the origin of the first Jewish observ-
ance of the Sabbath to the time of the exodus,
we are forced to the conclusion that the custom of
keeping each seventh day as a day of rest was
derived from the people amongst whom the Jews
had been sojourning more than two hundred years.
It is unreasonable to suppose that Moses would
have added to the almost overwhelming difficulties
which he had to encounter in dealing with the
obstinate people he led from Egypt, the task of
establishing a new festival. Such a task is at all
times difficult, but at the time of the exodus it
would have been hopeless to undertake it. The
people were continually rebelling against Moses,
because he sought to turn them from the worship
of the gods of Egypt, in whom they were disposed
to trust. It was no time to establish a new festi-
val, unless one could be devised which should cor-
respond with the customs they had learned in
Egypt. Moses would seem indeed to have pursued a
SABBATH OF THE JEWS.
249
course of compromise.' Opposing manfully the wor-
ship of the Egyptian gods, he adopted, nevertheless,
Egyptian ceremonies and festivals, only so far modi-
fying them that (as he explained them) they ceased
to be associated with the worship of false gods.
We have also historical evidence as to the non-
Jewish origin of the observance of the seventh day,
as decisive of the arguments I have been consider-
ing. For Philo Judæus, Josephus, Clement of
Alexandria, and others, speak plainly of the week
as not of Jewish origin, but common to all the
Oriental nations. I do not wish, however, to make
use of such evidence here, important though it is-
or rather because it is so important that it could
not properly be dealt with in the space available to
There is a passage in Jeremiah which, as it seems to me, can-
not otherwise be reconciled with the Pentateuch-viz. chapter vii.
21-23, where he says, 'Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of
Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day
that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt
offerings or sacrifices; but this thing commanded I them, saying,
Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people;
and walk ye in all the way that I have commanded you, that it may
be well unto you.' It seems plainly intimated here that (in Jere-
miah's opinion, at any rate) the ordinances relating to burnt-offerings
and sacrifices on the Sabbath and new moons were not commanded
by God, however plainly the account in the Pentateuch may seem.
to suggest the contrary; and the two accounts can scarcely be re-
conciled except by supposing that the Mosaic laws on these points.
were intended to regulate and also to sanction an observance not
originally instituted by Moses.
250
SATURN AND THE
me. I wish to consider only the evidence which
lies directly before us in the Bible pages, combin-
ing it with the astronomical relations which are
involved in the question. For it is to an astrono-
mical or rather an astrological interpretation that
we are led, so soon as we recognise the non-Jewish
origin of the Sabbath. Beyond all doubt, the week
is an astronomical period, and that in a twofold
sense; it is first a rough sub-division of the lunar
month, and in the second place it is a period
derived directly from the number of celestial bodies
known to ancient astronomers as moving upon the
sphere of the fixed stars.
The astronomical origin of the Sabbath is shown
by the Mosaic laws as to festivals, illustrated by
occasional passages in other parts of the Bible. In
the 28th chapter of Numbers we find four forms of
sacrifice to be offered at regular intervals—first,
the continual burnt-offering to be made at sunrise
and at sunset (these epochs, be it noted, being
important in the astrological system of the Egyp-
tians); secondly, the offering on the Sabbath;
thirdly, the offering in the time of the new moon ;
and fourthly, the offering at the luni-solar festival
of the Passover. That is, we have daily, weekly,
monthly, and yearly offerings. An attempt has
been made to show that in the beginning of the
SABBATH OF THE JEWS.
251
Mosaic rule the months were not lunar; but, apart
from all other evidence, repeated references to
'Sabbaths and new moons' negative this view,
and show that, as Spencer (Rit. iii. 1) maintains,
the Hebrews began their month when the new
moon first appeared. It is also clear from the
nature of the offerings made, that the festival of
the new moon was held in equal esteem with the
Sabbath; and although the observances were dif-
ferent, yet both days were strictly religious in
character. For when the Shunammite woman said
to her husband that she would 'run to the man of
God,' he answers (supposing she went to hear the
sacred books read), 'Wherefore wilt thou go to
him to-day? it is neither new moon nor Sabbath.'
And again, the new moon resembled the Sabbath
in being a day when sale was prohibited.
this,' says Amos, 'O ye that swallow up the needy,
even to make the poor of the land to fail, saying,
When will the new moon be gone, that we may
sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth
wheat?' It seems also, as Tirin has pointed out,
that servile work was prohibited, for we read
(1 Samuel xx. 18, 19) that Jonathan said to David,
'To-morrow is the new moon and thou shalt be
missed, because thy seat will be empty. And
when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt
Hear
252
SATURN AND THE
go down quickly, and come to the place where thou
didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, or,
as in the Douay translation, 'in the day when it is
lawful to work,' 1
We have evidence equally clear to show that
the seven days of the week were connected with the
seven planets, that is, with the seven celestial bodies
which appear to move among the stars. It was by
no mere accidental agreement between the number
of the days and the number of planets that so many
of the Oriental nations were led to name the days
of the week after the planets. The arrangement
of the nomenclature is indeed so peculiar that a
common origin for the practice must be admitted,
when we find the same arrangement adopted by
¹ Tirin also asserts that the Jews observed the lunar system, and
that their months consisted of 29 and 30 days alternately (293 days,
within about three-quarters of an hour, being the length of the
mean lunar month). Hence the feast of the new moon came to be
called the thirtieth Sabbath, that is, the Sabbath of the thirtieth
day. Thus Horace (Sat. I. ix.) Hodie tricesima sabbata: vin' tu
Curtis Judæis oppedere?' Macrobius mentions that the Greeks,
Romans, Egyptians, Arabians, &c., worshipped the moon (Sat. I.
xv.)? and it is probable that despite the care of Moses on this
point, the Jews were prone to return to the moon-worship, whence
the feast of the new moon had its origin. We must not, however,
infer this from the passage in Jeremiah vii. 17, 18, Seest thou not
what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem ?
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the
women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven,
and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods.' For the queen of
heaven is Athor, parent of the universe.
SABBATH OF THE JEWS.
253
nations otherwise diverse in character and habits.
Moreover, the arrangement is manifestly associated
with Sabaism on the one hand, and with astrological
superstitions on the other; and we find the clearest
evidence in the Bible not only that Sabaism and
astrology were known to the Jews, but that Moses
had extreme difficulty in separating the observances
he enjoined (or permitted ?) from the worship of
the Host of Heaven. He was learned, we know,
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts vii. 22), and
therefore he must have known those astronomical
facts, and have been familiar with those astrolo-
gical superstitions, which the Chaldæans had im-
parted to the Egyptians of the days of the
Pharaohs. It is noteworthy, too, that the first
difficulties he met with in the exodus arose from
the wish of the Jews to return to Sabaism. This
is not manifest in the original narrative; but the
real meaning of the account is evident from the
following passage (Acts vii. 40), where Stephen,
speaking of Moses, says, 'This is he . . . whom
our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from
¹ He showed considerable skill, if Dr. Beke was right, in his
application of such knowledge (combined with special knowledge
acquired during his stay in Midian), so that his people should cross
a part of the Gulf of Suez during an exceptionally low tide. For
though the Egyptians may have been acquainted with the general
tidal motion in the Red Sea, it may well be believed that the army
of Pharaoh would be less familiar than Moses with local peculiari-
ties affecting (in his time) the movements of that sea.
254
SATURN AND THE ·
them, and in their hearts turned back again into
Egypt, saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go
before us; for as for this Moses, which brought us
out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is
become of him. And they made a calf in those
days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced
in the works of their own hands. Then God turned,
and gave them up to worship the host of heaven;
as it is written in the book of the prophets.
Ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star
of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to
worship them.'¹
This passage, and the passage from Amos, to which the proto-
martyr refers, are curious in connection with the special subject of
this paper, as indicated by its title. For where Stephen says
Remphan, Amos says Chiun. Now it is maintained by Grotius that
Remphan is the same as Rimmon, whom Naaman worshipped, and
Rimmon or Remmon signifies 'elevated' (lit. a pomegranate), and
is understood by Grotius to refer to Saturn, the highest of the planets.
(The student of astronomy will remember Galileo's anagram on the
words' Altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi.') Now Chiun,
which denotes a 'pedestal,' is considered to be equivalent in this
place to Chevan, or Kevan, the Saturn of the Arabians. (Park-
hurst mentions that the Peruvians worshipped Choun.) Moloch, of
course, signifies king. Because children were sacrificed to Moloch,
Bonfrère considers this god to be the same as Saturn, described as
devouring his own children. If so, the words 'tabernacle of Moloch
and the star of Remphan' relate to the same special form of
Sabaism-that, namely, which assigned to Saturn the chief place
among the star-gods. I must remark, however, that this point is
by no means essential for the main argument of this paper, which is
in reality based on the unquestioned fact that amongst all the nations
which used the week as a division of time, the seventh day was
SABBATH OF THE JEWS.
255
Now I might pass from what has here been
shown, to the direct inference that the Sabbath
corresponded with the day which Oriental Sabaism
consecrated to the planet Saturn; because we have
the clearest possible evidence that all nations which
adopted the week as a measure of time named the
seven days after the same planets. But I prefer, at
some risk of appearing to weaken the argument
by introducing matters less certain, to consider the
evidence we have as to the position of the god
corresponding to the Latin Saturn in the Assyrian
mythology.
Many years since, Colonel (then Major) Rawlin-
son, in a paper read before the Royal Asiatic
Society, referring to an inscription beginning,
This the Palace of Sardanapalus, the humble
worshipper of Assarach,' made the following
remarks:-
'There can be no doubt,' he said (I quote from
a report not professing to be verbatim), 'that this
Assarach was the Nisroch mentioned in Scripture,
in whose temple Sennacherib was slain. He was
most probably the deified father of the tribes, the
Assur of the Bible. This Assarach was styled in
associated with the planet Saturn. It is necessary to call attention.
to this point, because not unfrequently it happens that some sub-
sidiary matter, such as that touched on in this note, is dealt with as
though the whole question at issue turned upon it.
256
SATURN AND THE
all the inscriptions as the king, the father, and the
ruler of the gods, thus answering to the Gre、k
god, Chronos, or Saturn, in Assyrio-Hellenic my-
thology.'
Again Layard, speaking of Assyrian mythology,
says:-
'All we can now venture to infer is that the
Assyrians worshipped one supreme God as the
great national deity, under whose immediate and
special protection they lived, and their empire ex-
isted. The name of this god appears to have been
Asshur, as nearly as can be determined at present
from the inscriptions. It was identified with that
of the empire itself, always called "the country of
Asshur." With Asshur, but apparently far inferior
to him in the celestial hierarchy, although called
the great gods, were associated twelve other deities.
These twelve gods may have presided over
the twelve months of the year.'—(Nineveh and
Babylon, p. 637.)
In a note, Layard refers to doubts expressed
by Colonel Rawlinson respecting the identity of
Asshur and Nisroch, presumably removed by Raw-
linson's later reading of the inscription referred to
above. He remarks that this supreme god was
represented sometimes under a triune form; and
generally, if not always, typified by a winged
SABBATH OF THE JEWS.
257
figure in a circle.' Plate XIII. of my treatise on
Saturn shows how these two descriptions are re-
concilable; for there are shown in it two figures of
Nisroch, both winged and within a ring, but one
only triune.¹
Amongst the twelve great gods were included
six corresponding to the remaining planets, though
doubts exist as to the gods associated with the dif-
ferent celestial bodies. It seems probable that Sha-
mash corresponded with the Sun; Ishtar (Astarte or
Ashtar) with the Moon; Bel with Jupiter,2 Mero-
¹ I do not here dwell on the curious coincidence-if, indeed,
Chaldæan astronomers had not discovered the ring of Saturn—that
they showed the god corresponding within a ring, and triple.
Galileo's first view of Saturn, with feeble telescopic power, showed
the planet as triple (tergeminus); and very moderate optical know-
ledge, such indeed as we may fairly infer from the presence of
optical instruments among Assyrian remains, might have led to the
discovery of Saturn's ring and Jupiter's moons. (Bel, the Assyrian
Jupiter, was represented sometimes with four star-tipped wings.)
But it is possible that these are mere coincidences. Saturn would
naturally come to be regarded as the God of Time, on account of
his slow motion round the ecliptic; and thus the ring (a natural
emblem of time) might be expected to appear in figures of the god
corresponding to this planet. It is curious, however, that the ring
is flat, and proportioned like Saturn's.
2 Layard associates Bel, the father of the great gods,' with
Saturn, and Mylitta, the consort of Bel, with Venus, but without
giving any reasons, and probably merely as a guess. He elsewhere
remarks, however, that from Baal came the Belus of the Greeks,
who was confounded with our own Zeus or Jupiter, and apart from
the clear evidence associating Nisroch with Saturn, the evidence
connecting Bel with Jupiter is tolerably satisfactory. The point is
not important, however, in relation to the subject of this paper.
S
Մ
258
SATURN AND THE
dach with Mars; Mylitta with Venus; and Nebo
with Mercury. But the question would only be of
importance in its bearing on my present subject,
if we knew the Assyrian time-measurement, and
especially their arrangement of the days of the
week. Since we have to pass to other sources of
information on this point, the only really important
fact in the Assyrian mythology, for our purpose,
is the nearly certain one that their supreme god
Asshur or Nisroch corresponded to the 'highest '
or outermost planet Saturn. He was also the
Time God, thus corresponding to Chronos. But it
is necessary to notice here that mythological rela-
tions must to some degree be separated from astro-
logical considerations, in dealing with the connec-
tion between various Assyrio-Chaldæan deities and
the planets. For instance, it is important in
mythology to observe that the Greek god Chronos
and the Latin god Saturn are unlike in many of
their attributes, yet the association between the
planet Saturn and the Assyrian deity Nisroch is
not on that account brought into question, al-
though we can only connect Nisroch with Saturn
by means of the common relation of both to
Chronos.
On etymological grounds, Yav, the fifth of the great gods, may per-
haps be associated with Zeus, identical with the Sanscrit Dyaus, and
the Latin root' Jov;' also with Yahveh, the tribal god of the Jews.
SABBATH OF THE JEWS.
259
Many circumstances point to the Chaldæan
origin of Egyptian astronomy. The Egyptian
zodiac corresponded with the Dodecatemoria of
the Chaldæans, and though some of the Chaldæan
constellations were modified in Egyptian temples,
yet sufficient general resemblance exists between
the Egyptian arrangement and that which other
nations derived from the Chaldæans, to show the
real origin of the figures which adorn Egyptian
zodiac temples.¹ The argument derived from
In an essay on the Shield of Achilles (Light Science for
Leisure Hours, first series), I called attention, seven years ago, to
the probability that the description of the Shield, a manifest inter-
polation, related originally to a zodiac temple, erected by star-
worshippers long before Homer's time. Some of the Egyptian
zodiac temples exist to this day, though probably they belong to a
much later date, and were only copies (more or less perfect) of the
ancient Chaldæan temples. That Homer, if he had visited such a
temple, and had composed a poem descriptive of its sculptured
dome, would have worked in' that description if he saw the
opportunity when singing the Iliad, all Homeric students will be
ready to admit. Like every improvisatore, the glorious old minstrel
knew the advantage of the rest afforded by an occasional change
from invention to recitation. In so using it, he appears to have
pruned the description considerably; for in the Shield of Hercules
(manifestly taken from the same Homeric poem, though sometimes
attributed to Hesiod) we find, along with much almost identical.
matter, several passages which are omitted from the Achillean de-
scription. Very curious evidence of the nature of the original
poem is found in one of these passages. In a zodiac temple, the
constellation of the Dragon (whatever the age of the temple) would
occupy the boss or centre of the dome, for the north pole of the
zodiac falls in the middle of that constellation. Now in the Shield
of Hercules-
S 2
260
SATURN AND THE
astrological fancies is even stronger, for the whole
system of astrological divination is so artificial and
peculiar that it must of necessity be ascribed to
one nation. To find the system prevailing among
any people is of itself a sufficient proof that they
were taught by that nation. Nor can any question
arise as to the nation which invented the system.
The Egyptians themselves admitted the superi-
ority of the Chaldæan astrologers, and the com-
mon consent of all the Oriental nations accorded
with this view. We know that in Rome, although
Armenians, Egyptians, and Jews were consulted
as astronomers, Chaldæans were held to be the
most proficient. Chaldæis sed major erit fiducia,'
says Juvenal, of the Roman ladies who consulted
fortune-tellers: 'quicquid Dixerit astrologus, cre-
dent a fonte relatis Ammonis,'- whatever the
Chaldæan astrologers may say, they trust as
though it came from Jupiter Ammon. Another
argument in favour of the Chaldæan origin of
astronomy and astrology is derived from the fact
(
'The scaly horror of a dragon coil'd
Full in the central field, unspeakable
With eyes oblique retorted, that aslant
Shot gleaming flame.'
(The very attitude, be it noted, of the Dragon of the Star sphere.)
There is much more evidence of this kind to which, for want of
space, I cannot here refer.
SABBATH OF THE JEWS.
261
that the systems of astronomy taught in Egypt,
Babylon, Persepolis, and elsewhere, do not corre-
spond with the latitude of these places; but this
argument (which I have considered at some length
in Appendix A. to my treatise on Saturn) need
not detain us here. It is sufficient to observe that
in Egypt the astrological system was early received
and taught :--
'Egypt,' says a modern writer, a country noted
for the loveliness of its nights, might well be the
supporter of such a system. . . . To each planet
was attributed a mystic influence, and to every
heavenly body a supernatural agency, and all the
stars that gem the sky were supposed to exert an
influence over the birth, and life, and destiny of
man; hence arose the casting of nativities, prayers,
incantations, and sacrifices, of which we have
traces even to the present day in those professors
of astrology and divination, the gipsies, whose very
name links them with the ancient country of such
arts.'¹
One of the cardinal principles of astrology was
this that every hour and every day is ruled by its
proper planet. Now, in the ancient Egyptian
This may be questioned. It is said, however, that when the
gipsies first made their appearance in Western Europe, about the
year 1415, their leader called himself Duke of Lower Egypt.
262
SATURN AND THE
astronomy there were seven planets; two, the sun
and moon, circling round the earth, the rest circling
round the sun. The period of circulation was
apparently taken as the measure of each planet's
dignity, probably because it was judged that the
distance corresponded to the period. We know
that some harmonious relation between the distances.
and periods was supposed to exist. When Kepler
discovered the actual law, he conceived that he had
in reality found out the mystery of Egyptian
astronomy, or, as he expressed it, that he had
'stolen the golden vases of the Egyptians.'
Whether they had clear ideas as to the nature of
this relation or not, it is certain that they arranged
the planets in order (beginning with the planet of
longest period) as follows:
5. Venus.
I. Saturn.
2. Jupiter.
6. Mercury.
3. Mars.
4. The Sun.
7. The Moon.
The hours were devoted in continuous succession
to these bodies; and as there were twenty-four
hours in each Chaldæan or Egyptian day, it follows
that with whatever planet the day began, the cycle
of seven planets (beginning with that one) was
repeated three times, making twenty-one hours,
SABBATH OF THE JEWS.
263
and then the first three planets of the cycle com-
pleted the twenty-four hours, so that the fourth
planet of the cycle (so begun) ruled the first hour
of the next day Suppose, for instance, the first
hour of any day was ruled by the Sun-the cycle
for the day would therefore be the Sun, Venus,
Mercury, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars,
which, repeated three times, would give twenty-one
hours; the twenty-second, twenty-third, and
twenty-fourth hours would be ruled respectively
by the Sun, Venus, and Mercury, and the first
hour of the next day would be ruled by the
Moon. Proceeding in the same way through this
second day, we find that the first hour of the third
day would be ruled by Mars. The first hour of the
fourth day would be ruled by Mercury; the first
hour of the fifth day by Jupiter; of the sixth by
Venus; and of the seventh by Saturn. The seven
days in order, being assigned to the planet ruling
their first hour, would therefore be-
1. The Sun's day (Sunday).
2. The Moon's day (Monday, Lundi).
3. Mars's day (Tuesday, Mardi).
4. Mercury's day (Wednesday, Mercredi).
5. Jupiter's day (Thursday, Jeudi).
6. Venus's day (Friday, Veneris dies, Vendredi).
7. Saturn's day (Saturday; Ital. il Sabbato).
264
SATURN AND THE
Dion Cassius, who wrote in the third century of
our era, gives this explanation of the nature of the
Egyptian week and of the method in which the
arrangement was derived from their system of
astronomy. It is a noteworthy point that neither
the Greeks nor Romans in his time used the week,
which was a period of strictly Oriental origin.
The Romans only adopted the week in the time of
Theodosius, towards the close of the fourth century,
and the Greeks divided the month into periods of
ten days; so that, for the origin of the arrange-
ment connecting the days of the week with the
planets, we must look to the source indicated by
Dion Cassius. It is a curious illustration of the
way in which traditions are handed down, not only
from generation to generation, but from nation to
nation, that the Latin and Western nations receiving
the week along with the doctrines of Christianity,
should nevertheless have adopted the nomenclature
in use among astrologers. It is impossible to say
how widely the superstitions of astrology had
spread, or how deeply they had penetrated, for the
practices of astrologers were carried on in secret,
wherever Sabaism was rejected as a form of
religion; but that in some mysterious way these
superstitions spread among nations professing faith
in one God, and that even to this day they are
SABBATH OF THE JEWS.
265
secretly accepted in Mahometan and even Christian.
communities, cannot be disputed. How much
more must such superstitions have affected the
Jews, led out by Moses from the very temple of
astrology? Knowing what we do of the influence
of such superstitions in our own time, can we
wonder if three thousand years ago Moses found
it difficult to dispossess his followers of their belief
in the host of heaven,' or if, a few generations
later, even the reputed prophetess Deborah should
have been found proclaiming that 'the stars in their
courses' had fought against the enemies of Israel ? ¹
¹ We are apt to overlook the Pagan origin of many ideas referred
to in the Bible, as well as of many ceremonies which Moses at least
permitted, if he did not enjoin. The description of the Ark of the
Covenant, of the method of sacrifices, of the priestly vestments, &c.,
indicate in the clearest manner an Egyptian or Assyrian origin.
The cherubim, for instance-figures which united, as Calmet has
shown, the body of the lion or ox with the wings of an eagle—are
common in Assyrian sculptures. The oracle of the temple differed
only from some of the chambers of Nimrod and Khorsabad, in the
substitution of 'palm trees' for the sacred tree of Assyrian sculp-
tures, and open flowers for the Assyrian tulip-shaped ornament.
Layard (Nineveh and Babylon, p. 643) states further that in the
Assyrian halls, the winged human-headed bulls were on the side of
the wall, and their wings, like those of the cherubim, "touched one
another in the midst of the house." The dimensions of these figures
were in some cases nearly the same-namely, fifteen feet square.
The doors were also carved with cherubim and palm trees, and open
flowers, and thus, with the other parts of the building, corresponded
with those of the Assyrian palaces. On the walls at Nineveh, the
only addition appears to have been the introduction of the human
form and the image of the king, which were an abomination to the
266
SATURN AND THE
That the Egyptians dedicated the seventh day
of the week to the outermost or highest planet,
Saturn, is certain; and it is presumable that this
day was a day of rest in Egypt. It is not known,
however, whether this was ordained in honour of
Jews. The pomegranates and lilies of Solomon's temple must have
been nearly identical with the usual Assyrian ornament, in which
—and particularly at Khorsabad—the pomegranate frequently takes
the place of the tulip and the cone.' After quoting the description
given by Josephus of the interior of one of Solomon's houses, which
even more closely corresponds with and illustrates the chambers in
the palace of Nineveh, Layard makes the following remark: To
complete the analogy between the two edifices, it would appear that
Solomon was seven years building the temple, and Sennacherib
about the same time building his great palace at Kouyunjik.' The
introduction into the Ark of figures so remarkable as the cherubim
can hardly be otherwise explained than by assuming that these
figures corresponded with some objects which the Jews during their
stay in Egypt had learned to associate with religious ceremonies.
That the Egyptians used such figures, placing them at the entrance
of their temples, is certain. Neither can it be doubted that the
setting of dishes, spoons, bowls, shewbread, &c., on the table within
the Ark, was derived from Egyptian ceremonials, though direct
evidence on these points is not (so far as I know) available. We
know, however, that meats of all kinds were set before Baal (see
Apocrypha, Bel and the Dragon). The remarkable breast-plate
worn by the Jewish high priest was derived directly from the
Egyptians. In the often-repeated picture of judgment the deceased
Egyptian is seen conducted by the god Horus, while 'Anubis
places on one of the balances a vase supposed to contain his good
actions, and in the other is the emblem of truth, a representation of
Thmèi, the goddess of Truth, which was also worn on the judicial
breast-plate.' Wilkinson, in his Manners and Customs of the
Ancient Egyptians, shows that the Hebrew Thummim is a plural
form of the word Thmèi. The symbolism of the breast-plate is
referred to in the Apocrypha, Book of Wisdom, lxviii. 24.
SABBATH OF THE JEWS.
267
the chief planet—that is, their supreme deity—or
because it was held unlucky to work on that day.
It by no means follows from the fact that Nisroch,
or his Egyptian representative, was the chief deity,
that he was therefore regarded as a beneficent
ruler. Rather what we know of Oriental super-
stitions would lead us to infer that the chief deity
in a system of several gods was one to be propi-
tiated. And, indeed, the little we know of Egyp-
tian mythology suggests that the beneficent gods
were those corresponding to the sun and moon—
later represented by Osiris and Isis (deities, how-
ever, which had other interpretations). Saturn,
though superior to the sun and moon, not only
in the sense in which modern astronomers use the
term superior, but also in the power attributed to
him, was probably a maleficent if not a malignant
deity. We may infer this from the qualities
attributed to him by astrologers—'If Saturn be
predominant in any man's nativity, and cause
melancholy in his temperature,' says Burton, in
his 'Anatomy of Melancholy,' 'then he shall be
very austere, sullen, churlish, black of colour,
profound in his cogitations, full of cares, miseries,
and discontents, sad and fearful, always silent and
solitary.' We may not unreasonably conclude,
therefore, that either rest was enjoined on Saturn's
268
SATÜRN AND THE
day as a religious observance to propitiate this
powerful but gloomy god, or else because bad
fortune was expected to attend any enterprise
begun on the day over which Saturn bore sway.
The evil influence, as well as the great power
attributed to Saturn, are indicated in the well-
known lines of Chaucer :-
Quod Saturne,
My cors, that hath so wide for to turne,
Hath more power than wot any man ;
*
**
I do vengeaunce and pleine correction
While I dwell in the signe of the leon;
*
*
Min ben also the maladies colde,
The darke tresons, and the castes olde;
My loking is the fader of pestilence.
It is, however, possible that the idea of rest on the
day dedicated to Saturn may have been suggested
to Egyptian astrologers and priests by the slow
motion of the planet in his orbit, whereby the
circuit of the ecliptic is only completed in about
twenty-nine years.
However this may be, we know certainly that
on the Sabbath of the Jews rest was enjoined for
a different reason. Moses adopted the Egyptian
week, and allowed the practice of a weekly day
of rest to continue. But in order that the people
SABBATH OF THE JEWS.
269
whom he led and instructed might not fall into the
worship of the host of heaven, he associated the
observance of the seventh day with the worship
of that one God in whom he enjoined them to
believe, the God of their forefathers, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. So far as appears from the
Bible narrative, there is no scriptural objection to
this view. On the contrary, strong scriptural
reasons exist for accepting it. If the account of
the creation given in the first chapter of Genesis
could be accepted as literally exact, it neverthe-
less would not follow that the seventh day of rest
was enjoined before the time of the exodus. And we
have seen that the Bible account itself assigns the
departure from Egypt as a reason for the observ-
ance, so that whatever view we form respecting
the real origin of the seventh day of rest, we have
no choice as to the time we must assign for the
commencement of its observance by the Jews,
unless Deuteronomy v. be rejected as not even
historically trustworthy.
Nothing, therefore, that I have shown in this
paper need be regarded as necessarily opposed to
the faith of those who honestly believe in the
literal exactness of the reason assigned in Exodus
xxxi. 17 for the observance of the Sabbath of the
Jews. Such persons may accept the week as of
270
SATURN AND THE
Pagan origin, and the original observance of
Saturn's day as of astrological significance, while
believing in the reason given by Moses for the
adoption of the practice by his followers, that ‘in
six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and
on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'
The idea of rest, accepted literally, accords neither
better nor worse with the conception of an
Almighty Creator, than the idea of work.) But
it seems to me that those who thus regard the
Jewish Sabbath as a divinely instituted compro-
mise between the worship of the seven planets as
gods, and the worship of one only God the
Creator of all things, may yet find in what I have
here shown a new reason for Christianising our
seventh day of rest, even if we must still continue
to miscall it the Sabbath. Since it was permis-
sible for Moses to adopt a Pagan practice (to
sanction, if not to sanctify, a superstition), it may
well be believed that the greater than Moses was
entitled to change the mode of observance of the
seventh day of rest. We know that in Christ's
time the Sabbath (of its very nature a convenient
ceremonial substitute for true religion) had become
a hideous tyranny; nay, that many, wanting real
goodness, were eager to prove their virtue by in-
flicting the Sabbath on those who most needed
SABBATH OF THE JEWS.
271
'to rest and be refreshed' on that day. Whether
in the obedience to the teaching of Christ, who
(we learn) rebuked those hypocrites, all this has
been changed in our time, is a point which may be
left to the reflection of the reader.
272
ASTRONOMY AND THE JEWISH
FESTIVALS.
IN the essay on the 'Origin of the Week,' I
have shown that so soon as a people began to
rise above the savage state, and to require some
means of measuring time-periods other than the
day and the year (if, indeed, the year ever was
even roughly measured until long after the month
and week had been used as time-measures),
they must have used the moon for this purpose,
and must soon after have been led to divide
time into periods of seven days. It is no mere
accident that all the nations of antiquity used
the week of seven days as a measure of time,
though some, later, employed the astronomically
more exact division of time into periods of five
and ten days. The moon naturally suggests by
her movements precisely this division of time into
periods of seven days, though a more careful study
of her motions suggests the division of the lunar
month into six periods of five days each, rather
•
ASTRONOMY AND JEWISH FESTIVALS. 273
than into four periods of seven days each. Nor is
it a mere accident that in one of the books of that
little library of Hebrew works we call the Old
Testament, we find as the very earliest division of
time used for the hiring of labour the week of
seven days. Even those nations, if any such there
were (which I doubt), who did not in the beginning
of their existence worship either the sun or the
moon, or both, and often the other heavenly bodies
as well, yet adopted the belief that the sun and
moon and stars were set in the heavens for signs,
and for seasons, and for days and years. And as
I have shown, all the names for the moon which do
not refer to her light, indicate her use as a time-
measurer.¹ I may also repeat here, that the times
of half-moon alone would be observed with any
exactitude, the time of full, like the time of new
moon, not being determinable with anything like
the same degree of accuracy. Moreover, I have
shown that soon after the use of the month and its
quarters for measuring time had been commenced,
it would be found necessary to employ successive
1 This is true of nearly all the Indo-European languages, though
in some, as in Greek, we have two names for the moon, one relating
to her brightness, the other to her time-measuring use; while in
some, as in Latin, the latter name has disappeared, save as it re-
mains in derivations as mensis, the month, the connection of which
word with mensuration was noticed even by the Romans, as by
Cicero and others.
T
274
ASTRONOMY AND
weeks of seven days without reference to their
agreement or not with the four quarters of succes-
sive lunar months. In other words, since the week
and the month are not exactly synchronous, it
would be found necessary to use them separately,
just as the lunar month and the year not being
synchronous have had to be used separately, and
as, in like manner, the day not being synchronous
with either the lunar month or the year, has
had to be used apart from them, though all four
periods, day, week, month, and year, are associated
together.
In the essay on the Jewish Sabbath I have
shown how the seven days came to be associated
with the seven planets. The twenty-four hours of
each day were devoted to those planets in the
order of their supposed distance from the earth,—
Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury,
and the Moon. The outermost planet, Saturn,
which also travels in the longest period, was re-
garded in this arrangement as of chief dignity, as
encompassing in his movement all the rest, Jupiter
as of higher dignity than Mars, and so forth.
Moreover, to the outermost planet, partly because
of Saturn's gloomy aspect, partly because among
half-savage races the powers of evil are always
more respected than the powers that work for good,
THE JEWISH FESTIVALS.
275
Now, if we
a maleficent influence was attributed.
assign to the successive hours of a day the planets
as above-named, beginning with Saturn on the day
assigned to that powerful deity, it will be found
that the last hour of that day will be assigned to
Mars, the lesser infortune, as Saturn was the
greater infortune of the old system of astrology,-
and the first hour of the next day to the next
planet, the Sun,' the day following Saturday would
thus be Sunday. The last hour of Sunday would
fall to Mercury, and the first of the next to the
Moon; so Monday, the Moon's day, follows Sun-
day. The next day would be the day of Mars, who,
in the Scandinavian theology, is represented by
Tuisco; so Tuisco's day, or Tuesday (Mardi), fol-
lows Monday. Then, by following the same
system, we come to Mercury's day (Mercredi),
Woden's day, or Wednesday; next to Jupiter's
day, Jove's day (Jeudi), Thor's day, or Thursday;
to Venus's day, Vendredi (Veneris dies), Freya's
day, or Friday, and so to Saturday again. That
the day devoted to the most evil and most power-
ful of all the deities of the Sabdans should be set
apart-first as one on which it was unlucky to work,
and afterwards as one on which it was held to be
1 The sun and moon were both regarded as planets by astrologers,
who, it must be remembered, were of old the only astronomers.
T 2
276
ASTRONOMY AND
sinful to work-was but the natural outcome of the
superstitious belief that the planets were gods rul-
ing the fates of men and nations.' It is, however,
obvious that the Jews, or rather those from whom
they derived their special religious observances,
were taught to find a worthier motive for their Sab-
bath rest. Yet, of the connection between the
Jewish and the astrologic and sabaistic Sabbath,
there could be no manner of doubt, even were there
not the evidence now to be considered, which indi-
cates that all the Jewish festivals and fasts were of
astronomical origin.
It must, in the first place, be obvious to any one
who considers the matter with the least degree of
attention, that the Jewish ceremonial worship, with
all its complicated arrangements, must have been
in existence long before the exodus. No reasoning
mind can for a moment imagine that such a
system could have been devised in a lifetime, or a
generation, far less during such a period as that in
In like manner the day of Venus, Friday, was a day for marry.
ing and giving in marriage; and though our modern customs make
the day of marriage the day also for starting on a journey (even that,
however, showing evidence of astronomical origin, in its customary
length as the moon of honey '), it was the reverse in ancient times,
so that Friday would be of all days in the week the one regarded as
least suited for starting on a journey. We see some trace of this
association in Deuteronomy, chap. xx. v. 7, 'What man is there
that hath betrothed a wife? let him go and return unto his house.'
THE JEWISH FESTIVALS.
277
which the Jewish people were wandering between
Egypt and Palestine-assuming the description of
the exodus to be in its outlines true, however mani-
festly inexact in details. But we are not left to
infer this, from the obvious considerations suggested
by experience as the origin of ceremonial observ-
ances among other people. There is abundant
evidence to show that the Jewish ceremonial system.
was derived either directly from the Assyrians (who
may have received it still earlier from Hindoo
sources), or, more probably, from Assyria through
the Egyptians. As I have pointed out at pp. 265,
266, 'the description of the Ark of the Covenant, of
the method of sacrifices, of the priestly ornaments,
&c., indicates in the clearest manner an Egyptian
or Assyrian origin.'
And now let us examine the Jewish sacrifices.
offered up at various feasts and fasts, or otherwise
at stated times. We may conveniently follow the
account given in the Book of Numbers, chaps.
xxviii. and xxix., though the reader will do well to
consult also Leviticus, chaps. xxiii., xxv., &c., and
Deuteronomy, chaps. xv. and xvi. These accounts,
though probably written by different persons, and
at widely different times, agree substantially
together and, indeed, would seem to have passed
under revision by one person (before the time of
278
ASTRONOMY AND
Ezra the scribe. See the Book of Nehemiah, chap.
viii.).
At the very outset, we find evidence that the
sacrifices were not originally offered to the
Almighty Being, who works in and through all
things, but were devised as parts of a system of
nature worship (primarily, it would seem, a system
of Sun worship). For we read, 'The Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, Command the children of
Israel, and say unto them, My offering and my
bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet
savour unto me, shall ye observe to offer unto me
in their due season.' The conception that the
savour of cooked flesh could be sweet to an
Almighty, All-wise, and Omnipotent Being, belongs
as completely to the childhood of religion as does.
the idea that such a Being could under any condi-
tions need the rest and refreshment mentioned in
Exodus, chap. xxxi. v. 17. The use of fire also in
sacrificial observances belongs essentially to Sun
worship and the associated system of Fire
worship.
The first sacrifice is the daily sacrifice, or the
continual burnt offering. 'This is the offering
made by fire which ye shall offer unto the Lord:
two lambs of the first year without spot day by
day, for a continual burnt offering; the one lamb
THE JEWISH FESTIVALS.
279
shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb
shalt thou offer at even.' Flour and oil also were
offered for the continual burnt offering. There was
also, precisely as in Pagan sacrifices, a libation
'In the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine
to be poured unto the Lord for a drink offering.'
We have here manifestly those sacrifices to the
rising and setting sun which formed so charac-
teristic a feature of Sun worship.
Secondly, on the Sabbath-day, besides the con-
tinual burnt offering, there were offered 'two lambs
of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of
flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil and the
drink offering thereof.' This may be regarded as
partly derived from sacrifices originally offered to
Saturn; partly from the worship of the moon, which
certainly was not unknown to the Jewish people.
In fact, it is noteworthy that in the Book of Job,
where no mention whatever is made of the Sab-
bath and Sabbath rest, the worship of the sun
and moon is referred to in terms implying that
it was common in Job's time, though Job himself
had risen superior to the superstitions of Sabaism.
(See p. 248, &c.) Moreover, it is evident from the
various reasons assigned for keeping the Sabbath
holy, that the observance had originally belonged
to another cult than that in which the lawgivers.
280
ASTRONOMY AND
of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy en-
deavoured to train the Jewish people. In Le-
viticus xxiii. they were simply told that the
day is an holy convocation, the Sabbath of the
Lord; just as in chap. xxv. they were told that
the seventh year was a Sabbath for the Lord, and
that the jubilee was to be holy unto them. In
Exodus xxii. II they were told that the day
was to be kept holy because the All-powerful God
rested on the seventh day. In Deuteronomy v.
14 they were told that God commanded them to
keep the Sabbath day because He had brought
them out of the land of Egypt 'through a mighty
hand, and by a stretched-out arm.'
In passing, it may be noticed that the Assyrian
tablets indicate a weekly resting-day, called the
Sabbat, but it was of much earlier date than the
Jewish, belonging to the time before the week and
the month had been separated. Thus, the 7th,
14th, 21st, and 28th days of each month were days
of Sabbat, or rest, and also the 19th day, or the
49th day from the beginning of the previous month,
so that this 19th, or mid-month rest, corresponded
to the Jewish 'week of weeks.'
In the third place, sacrifices were offered in the
beginning of the months, that is, at the time of new
moon.
THE JEWISH FESTIVALS.
281
So far as the offerings at the feast of the new
moon were concerned, we might infer that the
Sabbath of the new moon was originally held to
be more important than the week-day Sabbath.
Instead of two lambs, as at the weekly Sabbath,
there were offered at the feast of the new moon
two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven lambs;
instead of two tenth deals of flour, fifteen tenth
deals; instead of half a hin of wine, more than
two hins were offered at the monthly Sabbath.
Even if we take into account the greater frequency
of weekly Sabbaths (in about the proportion of 59
to 14), we still find that the monthly offerings
taken throughout the year, or throughout a number
of years, considerably surpassed the weekly of-
ferings.
We come next to the two most important festi-
vals of the Jewish year-the feast of the passover,
and the feast of tabernacles-on the fifteenth days.
of the first and of the second months respec-
tively.
We might safely infer, that these two feasts
were astronomical from the circumstance that one
is assigned to the time when the sun crosses
the equator from south to north, and the other to
the time when he crosses the equator from north to
south, in other words, to the times of the spring
282
ASTRONOMY AND
1
and autumn equinox. We should be confirmed in
this opinion in remembering that among other
nations these epochs had been regarded as of espe-
cial significance, and that where Sabaistic worship,
and Sun worship, in particular, had prevailed (and
there have been few races which have not at one
time or other adopted these forms of worship), the
time of Easter and the corresponding autumn's
epoch had been times of ceremonial observance
long before, and long after, the feast of the pass-
over and the feast of tabernacles had been regu-
lated by the Jewish lawgivers. But there is also
evidence of the astronomical character of these
two festivals in the nature of the sacrifices offered
on these occasions. It was no mere accident that
during the seven days of unleavened bread, at the
time of the passover, the daily sacrifice was the
same as for the feast of the new moon, except that
in addition to the 'two young bullocks, one ram,
and seven lambs,' 'one goat' was offered 'for a sin
offering,' to make an atonement for the people. So
also during the eight days of the feast of taber-
nacles, two rams and fourteen lambs were offered
every day, but on the other days, in succession,
thirteen bullocks, twelve, eleven, and so forth,
thirteen (as eminent Jewish writers have pointed
The very word signifies uprising,
THE JEWISH FESTIVALS.
283
out) being the nearest whole number to the number
of lunar months in a year.
It is noteworthy that even in the day of the
first fruits, the one festival not directly of astro-
nomical origin (though indirectly so, as a seasonal
festival), the offerings were the same as at the feast
of the new moon-viz. two bullocks, one ram, and
seven lambs, 'one kid of the goats' being added,
'to make an atonement' for the people.
Now the feast of the passover, and the feast
of tabernacles, corresponding thus exactly with
the two solar passovers, the nodal passages of the
equator,—whatever subsequent interpretation was
given by the Jewish lawgivers to one (at least) of
their festivals,—we are justified in recognising the
real origin of both in the Sabaistic system of
worship, from which the whole system of Jewish
ceremonial was manifestly derived. It is to be ob-
served that each part of the evidence strengthens
the rest; we might be in doubt (though for my
own part, after studying the subject in the light of
known astronomical facts, I cannot myself enter-
tain any doubt) as to the astronomical origin of
Sabbath observance, if we did not find it associ-
ated, on the one hand, with the manifestly astro-
nomical observances at the time of sunrise and
sunset, and, on the other, with the manifestly astro-
284
ASTRONOMY AND
nomical festival of the new moon. But when we
find, in addition, that the two principal annual
festivals of the Jews (the only remaining festivals
except the seasonal feast of the first fruits) corre-
sponded with the two most marked epochs of the
year the passages of the sun across the equator
at the time of the vernal and autumnal equinox-
we find it altogether impossible to resist the in-
ference, that the entire system of sacrificial observ-
ance was based on astronomical considerations.
But we can infer more than this. Seeing that
these festivals remained religious festivals, even
when the Jews had been taught no longer to
worship the host of heaven, we perceive that they
must originally also have been not simply astro-
nomical but religious. They could therefore have
been nothing, as first devised, but Sabaistic observ-
ances, for Sabaism is the only form of religion
which is based solely on astronomical principles.
We can understand, then, the great difficulty
experienced by the Jewish lawgivers in weaning
the Jews from the worship of the sun, moon, and
stars, for the whole sacrificial system of the Jews
shows us that in preceding times the people had
been imbued with Sabaistic ideas.
There are some who go much farther than this,
finding in festivals supposed to be peculiarly
THE JEWISH FESTIVALS.
285
Christian (which Easter, be it observed, is not) an
astronomical significance. Thus, Osiris, Mithra,
Bacchus, and Chrishna are represented as having
been born on December 25 (or rather at the
moment of midnight, between Christmas Eve and
Christmas Day) in a cave or stable. Now, although
at the present time the only peculiarity of this part
of the year is, that it corresponds with the time
when the sun is just beginning to rise above his
lowest mid-winter descent below the equator, yet
at the time when the zodiac was first formed, to
which time probably the myths in question may
be referred, the constellation Virgo had just risen
above the eastern horizon' while the sun was en-
tering the constellation Capricorn, which also bore
the name of the Augeas. It is singular also, as
showing how our modern festivals have been
dated according to these old Sabaistic ideas, that
August 8, which was about the time when the sign
Virgo is lost in the sun's light, is the date assigned
by the Catholic Church to the festival of the As-
sumption of the Virgin, while the Nativity of the
Virgin is assigned to September 8, which followed
¹ In reality, the sign Virgo had just so risen, meaning by that
the 30 degrees of the ecliptic preceding the autumnal equinoctial
point, where the sign Libra—the Scales-begins, or what is techni-
cally called the first point of Libra.
286 ASTRONOMY AND JEWISH FESTIVALS.
the epoch when the middle of the sign of Virgo
passes the sun by just the same interval as that by
which Christmas Day followed the mid-winter sol-
stice. However, it would take us too far to follow
out all the analogies which have been traced be
tween solar myths and the fasts and festivals of
the modern calendar. Many of these are very doubt-
ful, and some are more than doubtful, whereas no
doubt whatever seems to rest on the astronomical
origin of the Jewish sacrificial observances.
हैं.
287
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
It is rather singular that two of our small wars
with Africa, those with the Ashantees and the
Zulus, should have presented an illustration of the
influence which the observance of special days may
have on human conduct. In one case a foolish
superstition was involved, in the other what many
regard as a most weighty religious duty. It is
worth noticing that the superstition prevailed,—
the religious duty was for the time being set on
one side.
At a rather critical epoch in the Ashantee war,
when it was a matter of extreme importance that
certain military stores should be forwarded to the
British army with as little delay as possible, it so
chanced that all preparations for loading the ship
which was to convey those stores were completed
late on Thursday night. In the ordinary course of
things the ship would have sailed early on Friday
morning. But it is well known that sailors have a
superstitious objection against beginning a journey
288
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
on a Friday. It is even whispered that this idiotic
superstition is not limited to ordinary seamen, but
is entertained by many among their officers who
might be expected to have more sense. Whether
at the Admiralty such nonsensical notions are
believed in, I do not know. But certain it is that
the stores so much required were not despatched
until the Saturday, though the delay involved the
risk of serious mischief to the British forces in
Ashantee. I do not say that the delay was unwise
on the part of the authorities, assuming always that
it was not directly based on the foolish superstition
about Friday sailing. So long as sailors are
ignorant enough and silly enough to believe in
such superstitions, their folly must be taken into
account as one of the factors which their officers
and those yet higher in authority have to deal with.
It might probably have been far more mischievous
to have despatched the ship on Friday, with a dis-
heartened crew, than it was to lose twenty-four
precious hours for the sake of encouraging those
gallant but feeble-minded simpletons. Whether it
was for this reason that the ship was delayed, or
because (as some have said) the Friday superstition
extends to the quarter-deck and farther yet, certain
it is that this superstition was allowed to prevail,
and a great nation waited in the midst of hurried
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
289
military preparations till a dies infausta should be
overpast.
Five years passed, and again the British nation
was engaged in hurried preparations for war against
African savages. Every hour was of importance,
for reinforcements and military stores were to be
sent in all haste to save Natal from the warriors of
Cetywayo. And now another 'day' to which a
widespread opinion attaches special significance is
reached before the preparations can be completed.
Up to Saturday night the work of preparation has
gone busily forward. But the morrow is Sunday,
on which, according to the teaching of nine-tenths
of our clergy and the professions at any rate of
ninety-nine hundredths of our people, we should do
'no manner of work.' What the people from whom
that law is ostensibly derived would have done
under such circumstances we may partly infer from
the well-known episode in the history of the Mac-
cabees. If a thousand Jews, including many fight-
ing men, would allow themselves to be slain rather
than do work on the Sabbath-day by which their
lives might have been saved,' we can understand
that they would have interrupted on the Sabbath-
day such work as fitting ships, collecting stores,
&c. (which our military and naval folk had in hand
1 Maccabees, Book I. chap. ii, 32-39.
U
290
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
:
at the time I am writing about) and would only
have resumed work when the Sabbath was fairly
over. Our authorities did not so act; they acted,
to say truth, far more sensibly. They regarded the
work of preparation as a labour of necessity. Its
object was not, indeed, precisely to save life, as in a
case which a certain Jewish teacher considered for
unquestionably the military and naval preparations
made when the news of the disaster in Zululand
reached England would grievously have disap-
pointed expectation if they had not resulted in the
destruction of many more lives than they saved.
But if such preparations have to be made, they
cannot be made too quickly. Stopping them on the
Sunday would have been straining out an exceed-
ingly small gnat after several most monstrous camels
had been swallowed. Whatever the considerations.
may have been which influenced the Government,
certain it is that the religious observance was for
the time being set on one side as 'not convenient,'
and the work of preparation was pushed on as busily
through the Sunday as on the Saturday which
preceded and on the Monday which followed it.
It is possible that during the discussions likely
to take place before long on the question of open-
ing our museums, art galleries, and so forth on
Sundays, we may hear something more of the
•
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
291
sensible decision of the Government to omit for
awhile the observance of Sunday when warlike
preparations were in progress. It may occur to
our lawmakers that possibly if Sunday may be
used as a day for preparing weapons whereby the
bodies of men may be conveniently destroyed, it
may almost as righteously be used as a day on
which the minds of men may be conveniently
nourished and instructed. I have not told the two
stories, however, which illustrate so strikingly the
relative positions assigned by the authorities to
superstitious and to religious observances, for the
purpose of enforcing any argument in favour of
freeing the Sunday, but simply as a convenient way
of introducing some considerations respecting the
Sunday of Christianity and the Sabbath of Judaism
which are worthy of attention in the approaching
discussions on Sunday observance. There is not
much of novelty in the points I shall have to
advance on this subject, but a useful purpose may
be subserved by bringing together within the com-
pass of a single essay arguments and considerations
heretofore advanced in lengthy treatises, or even
scattered through several volumes.
The idea commonly entertained respecting
Sunday is, that from the time of the Apostles or
thereabouts, the observance of the Jewish Sabbath
U 2
292
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
-the seventh day in the week—was replaced by
the observance of the Lord's day-the first in the
week. As we still retain among the Command-
ments that one which specially refers to the seventh
day, it must be assumed that the Church teaches
the observance in our time of one day in the week
in the manner appointed for the Jewish Sabbath,
and also considers that the people require no special
information as to the manner in which the seventh
day has been replaced by the first. At least, this
way of viewing the matter reduces to a minimum
the inherent absurdity of teaching one law while
another law is to be practised. The absurdity,
even when thus reduced to a minimum, remains, in
the judgment of all who are acquainted with the
facts, a monstrous one; but it would be far more
monstrous if it were to be assumed that, as respects
even the manner of observance as well as respects
the day to be observed, the law thus constantly re-
peated amongst us has been abrogated; or again,
if it were assumed that the laity really understood
how incorrect is the notion on which they for the
most part base their observance of Sunday.
A brief sketch of the gradual displacement of
the Jewish Sabbath by the Christian Sunday will
show how the question rests so far as the authority
and action of the Church are concerned.
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
293
We do not find in any writer during the first
five centuries of the Christian era, or in any eccle-
siastical or civil public document, the slightest hint
of a transfer of the obligations indicated in the
Fourth Commandment from the Sabbath day to
the Sunday. Both days were observed as days of
worship and as days of rest. The author of the
'Constitutions' says that Peter and Paul ordered
that servants should work on five days in the week,
and rest on the Sabbath in memory of the Creation,
and on the Lord's day in memory of the Resurrec-
tion. The Council of Laodicea (363 A.D.) orders
Christians to work on the Sabbath, giving preference
to the Lord's day, and if possible resting on it; but
they are to be accursed if they keep it in the Jewish
fashion. And Augustine, Bishop of Hippo Regius,
so far from taking the Fourth Commandment as
the basis of Sunday observance, says that to fast on
Sunday as on the Sabbath is a grave seandal.'
Even regarded apart from its imagined relation
to the Fourth Commandment, Sunday during the
first centuries of the Christian era was not observed
as Sunday now is. It was originally a day to be
observed only by those who wished to observe it.
It was to be observed, if at all, as a day of gladness.
Tertullian condemned as unlawful not only Sunday
fasting, but the use of a kneeling posture in Sunday
294
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
services.
Die Dominico,' he says, 'jejunium nefas
ducimus vel de geniculis adorare.'
The first law which forbade work of any sort
on Sunday was passed by that most Christian and
exemplary emperor, Constantine (321 A.D.). For
reasons best known to himself he allowed field
labourers to work on Sundays, but city people,
artisans, and judges were enjoined to rest on 'the
venerable Day of the Sun.' This was a high com-
pliment to the Christian religion, for Constantine
was thus extending to Sunday the suspension of
business which heretofore had only been customary
on civil festivals, including his own birthday, which
he had probably regarded, and continued to regard,
as far more 'venerable' than any day of merely
religious significance. That the law was intended
to be civil, not religious, is confirmed by the edict
of Theodosius (386 A.D.), in which Sunday and
other Christian festivals are set apart, in company
with the days of the founding of Rome and Con-
stantinople, the days of the birth and accession of
the emperors, and the traditional festivals of
heathen Rome, as days on which no business was
to be transacted.
Until this time no law had been passed which
tended directly to prohibit amusements on Sunday,
or indeed on the Sabbath either. But the edict of
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
295
Theodosius prohibited not only secular business,
but theatrical amusements, horse racing, and the
baiting of animals. A few years later the Council
of Carthage expressed in a canon regret that the
multitude preferred flocking to the circus than to
the church on Sundays. At length, in 425, Theo-
dosius the Younger issued a prohibition against
Sunday work and Sunday sports, which was ex-
panded forty-four years later into the famous law
of Leo and Anthemius, ordaining that on Sunday
'no office of the law should be executed, no persons
summoned or arrested as sureties, no pleading or
judgment take place, and that also there should be
no theatrical shows, or games in the circus, or
baiting of wild beasts.'
Such was the beginning of Sunday observance,
though time was required to develop fully the
Sunday as now known.
In the time of Leo the Philosopher (889-910)
Sunday field-work, which had hitherto been per-
mitted as a work of necessity-for nature does not
observe any Sabbath rest-was forbidden by an
imperial law. Athelstane, Edgar, and Canute for-
bade all Sunday tradings; and it appears from one
of Edgar's laws that in those days Sunday was held
to begin at three o'clock on Saturday afternoon,
and to continue till dawn on Monday. Soon after,
296
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
hunting on Sunday was forbidden. In the reign of
Richard II., tennis, football, gambling, and putting
the stone, were included among forbidden Sunday
amusements. Attempts were made at this time to
enforce the laws for closing all shops on Sundays,
especially barbers' shops; for then, as now,
barbers were great offenders against Sunday laws
-whether because beards will continue to grow
during Saturday night and Sunday morning, or for
some other as yet undetermined reason, I do not
know. Eustace, Abbot of Flay, in 1201, main-
tained the duty of observing Sunday most strictly;
and he was able (probably as a reward for his great
virtues, and especially, it should seem, his great
veracity) to put in documentary evidence on this
point in the form of a letter from Christ, miracu-
lously 'delivered' on the altar of St. Simeon at
Golgotha by this letter all kinds of work were
forbidden from three on Saturday until Monday
morning.
'It is said also,' says a writer in the 'West-
minster Review' (who puts one of the following
stories so delicately that I cannot do better than
follow him), 'that certain miraculous penalties
visited those who paid no heed to this prohibition.
One woman weaving after three o'clock on Satur-
day was struck with the dead palsy; whilst another,
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
297
who had put some paste into an oven, when she
thought it was baked found it paste still. A man,
too, made a cake during the forbidden hours, from
which blood flowed when he began to eat it on
Sunday; and an unfortunate Jew of Tewkesbury,
who fell on the Sabbath into a place from which
extrication was difficult, and had scruples about
letting himself be drawn out on that day, whilst
the Duke of Gloucester had similar scruples about
drawing him out on Sunday, was dead when they
came to his assistance on Monday.'
The Duke of Gloucester's scruples show him to
have been a man of very delicate conscience (of
course we are not to imagine the possibility that
the unfortunate Jew might have been a creditor of
his); manifestly, he would have been shocked if
any one had advanced the easy doctrine that a
man, having an ox or a sheep fallen into a pit,
might without sin take it out on the Sabbath-day.
But as in the days of the Christianised Roman
emperors the laws for the observance of Sunday
were placed on the same footing only as those
relating to the observance of imperial birthdays.
and Pagan festivals, so in the days before the Re-
formation Sunday was placed on no higher a level
than was assigned to saints' days.
'Sunday,' says the 'Westminster' reviewer
298
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
very truly, 'was as holy as the deposition of St.
Wulfstan, or the day of St. Lawrence the Martyr,
but no more; so that if (as, historically, it seems
we must do) we ascribe the binding authority of
Sunday to the institution of the Church, we are
equally bound to observe the numerous saints'
days, which have exactly the same authority and
grew up in exactly the same way. If, for instance,
tennis and football are wrong on Sunday, they are
equally wrong upon any of the saints' days to
which the Act of Richard II. applied. For the
canons and statutes upon which our statute is based
did not take Sunday exclusively under their pro-
tection; and if we acknowledge their authority at
all, we must acknowledge it in toto. We have no
right to elect which of the holy days created by
the Church we shall retain and which we shall dis-
card; for, if we discard some, why should we not
discard all? At least, we must be prepared with
reasons for our preference; and, it is submitted, no
good reasons can be given. It is useless to appeal
to what the Reformation did; the question is, Had
it any grounds for what it did? If it acknowledged
no sanction for the saints' days, what sanction
remains for Sunday? The sanction only of subse-
quent statutes.'
But let us pass on to the time of the Reformation,
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
299
and see whether--though we can obtain no means
of separating one set of holidays sanctioned by the
Church from another equally sanctioned-we may
not find the Sunday of our time sanctioned by the
special approval of the Reformation. In other
words, though we cannot logically deduce our Sun-
day observances from the authority of the Church
before the Reformation, we may find that at the
time of the Reformation it was thought well to
establish such Sunday observances as at present
exist, and thus, for want of older and perhaps
better authority, we may be able to take the au-
thority of the Reformed Church.
But we find no help whatever in this direction.
The teaching of the Reformers was as definitely
opposed as it could be to the teaching of modern
Sabbatarians. Said Luther, 'If anywhere any one
sets up the observance of Sunday on a Jewish
foundation, then I order you to work on it, to ride
on it, to dance on it, to do anything which shall
remove the encroachments on Christian liberty.'
In the Augsburg Confession, again, the Protestants
say, 'Those who judge that, in place of the
Sabbath, the Lord's day was instituted as a day to
be necessarily observed, do greatly err. Scripture
abrogated the Sabbath, and teaches that the
Mosaic ceremonies may be omitted now that the
300
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
Gospel is revealed.' As to the Reformation in
England, it is commanded in the twenty-fourth in-
junction of Edward VI. that the holy day be wholly
given to God, in hearing His Word read and taught,
and in private and public prayers; but parishioners
are to be instructed that it is lawful in harvest-time
to labour on holy and festival days, and to save
that which God has sent, and that if, for any
scrupulosity or grudge of conscience, men should
superstitiously abstain from working on those days,
then they would grievously offend and displease
God.' (What a comfort it must have been to the
preachers of those times to know so well what God
wanted men to do!) Again, in 5 and 6 Edward
VI., cap. 3, Sunday is specially included among
holy days, respecting which section 6 specifies that
it shall be lawful for every husbandman, labourer,
fisherman, and all and every other person or per-
sons of any estate, degree, or condition (upon the
days before mentioned), at harvest or any other
time, when necessity shall so require, to labour,
ride, fish, or work any kind of work, at their free
will or pleasure.' Cranmer speaks of Sunday and
other holy days as mere appointments of the
magistrates,' which he considers, however, to be a
sufficient reason for their observance. But, as the
writer in the 'Westminster Review,' from whose
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
301
excellent paper on 'Sunday and Lent' the above
account of the Reformers' views has been abridged,
remarks justly, the most striking exposition of the
Reformation doctrine is Tyndale's answer to Sir T.
More's dialogue, where he says :—
'As for the Sabbath, we be lords over the
Sabbath, and may yet change it into Monday, or
into any other day, as we see need, or may make
every tenth day holy day only as we see cause why.
We may make two every week if it were expedient,
and one not enough to teach the people. Neither
was there any cause to change it from the Satur-
day, but to put a difference between ourselves and
the Jews; neither need we any holy day at all, if
the people might be taught without it.'
Yet, before long, the Sunday of our time began
to grow out of the more reasonable (though in one
sense less logical) Sunday of the early Reformers.
The Puritans, even in the time of Elizabeth, began
to be as superstitious about Sunday observance as
the Catholics had been in the time of Richard II.;
and after a time the Reformation, which had in the
first instance repudiated as too Judaised the Sun-
day of the Catholics, adopted a method of Sunday
observance which even surpassed in strictness the
old rabbinical observance of the Sabbath.
'Even Elizabeth,' says the 'Westminster' re-
302
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
viewer, 'was prevailed upon by the magistrates of
London to interdict plays and games on Sunday
within the liberties of the city. The Reformers
were in advance of their age, and, in some respects,
of our own. But Puritanism rapidly got the better
of them. It is recorded that it was preached in
Somersetshire that to throw a ball on the Sabbath
was as great a sin as to kill a man; in Norfolk,
that to make a feast or a wedding dinner on Sun-
day was as great a sin as for a father to cut his
child's throat with a knife; in Suffolk, that to ring
more bells than one was a crime equivalent to
murder. Then came, in 1595, Nicholas Bounde's
great work on Sabbatarianism, which began a con-
troversy that has never since ended. Few books
are to be compared with his for their permanent
influence on our social life. Our own Sunday has
much more of Bounde in it than of Tyndale or
Cranmer; and the Scotch Sabbath itself is really
due to Bounde, not to Calvin or Knox. For, as
1
1 Fuller, Book ix. s. 8, 22. It will hardly be believed, bui
within the last few years views as ludicrous in one aspect and as
horrible in another have been promulgated respecting Sunday ob.
servance. A foolish clergyman, at a meeting when the question of
playing cricket upon the village green on Sunday afternoons had
been discussed, got up with great warmth to express his conviction
that in God's eyes there was no difference between the man who
could thus break the Fourth Commandment and one who broke the
Sixth.
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
303
Dr. Hessey has clearly shown, Sabbatarianism in
Scotland was not so much the work of the last-
named Reformers as of the English Puritans; and
he mentions an existing tradition that Knox, being
one day on a visit to Calvin, found that worthy
theologian engaged in a game of bowls.'
That the English Puritans, and not the Scotch
Reformers, were the inventors of the rigidest forms
of Sabbatarianism, is further shown by the results
of English Puritanism where it worked unchecked.
Detestable as the Scotch Sunday is (not detestable, be
it understood, because of its unreasonable character,
but because of the mischief that it has worked and
continues to work), the New England Sunday was
even more abominable. In the twenty-eighth
article of the code drawn up for Newhaven in 1656
we find the following article, which for folk who
had fled from the abuse of authority is sufficiently
severe :-' Whosoever shall profane the Lord's day,
or any part of it, by work or sport, shall be
punished by fine or corporally. But if the court,
by clear evidence, find that the sin was proudly,
presumptuously, and with a high hand committed
against the command and authority of the blessed
God, such person therein despising and reproaching
the Lord shall be put to death.' The thirty-eighth
article is rather ridiculous than atrocious, like the
304
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
twenty-eighth. It runs simply, 'If any man shall
kiss his wife, or wife her husband, on the Lord's
day, the party in fault shall be punished at the
discretion of the court of magistrates;' and as the
magistrates were of the same kidney as the law-
makers, it will be conceived what 'punishment at
their discretion signified,' for discretion they had
none, neither did they know what mercy or justice
meant.
It is, indeed, clear that very early after the
Reformation the Puritans in the old country itself
were beginning to observe Sunday as dismally as
the Scotch now do. Thus, in 1635, or thereabouts,
Dr. Heylin found occasion to rebuke the gloomy
asceticism of some rigid Puritans: 'People,' he says,
'should not be so superstitiously fearful (of breaking
the Sabbath) that they dare not kindle a fire, or dress
meat, or visit their neighbours, sit at their own door,
or walk abroad, no, nor so much as talk with one
another, except it be-in the poet's words-
Of God, grace, and ordinances,
As if they were in heavenly trances.
In Scotland, only a few years later, the strict
observance of Sunday had begun to be regarded
as a matter for the attention of the magistrates.
In 1644 the six sessions forbade all walking in the
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
305
In
streets on Sunday after the noonday sermon.
1645 the magistrates were ordered to cause English
soldiers to lay hold of both old and young whom
they might find in the streets either before or
after the sermon. In 1650 the magistrates of
Edinburgh ordered that the city gates should be
closed from 10 P.M. on Saturday till 4 A.M. on
Monday, except for one hour in the morning and
one in the evening for the watering of horses.
About the same time Margaret Dickson, a widow,
had to pay two marks for having 'spits and roasts.
at the fire in time of sermon.'
Such being, in brief, the history of the steps by
which the Sunday observance of our time has
come into existence, it remains that we should con-
sider what actual authority we have for modern
Sabbatarianism, regarded as a religious question.
No one will care to take the Puritans of the seven-
teenth century as the sole or the chief authority for
keeping Sunday holy after a stricter fashion than
that in which the Jews held that the Sabbath
should be observed. For the Sabbath was a day
of abstinence from labour, not of abstinence from
amusement. If the Puritans had simply said the
Sunday shall be our Sabbath, and shall be observed
in all respects even as the Sabbath of the Jews was
observed, we could understand their position as
X
306
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
authorities in this matter. We should still have to
regard them as absolutely the only authorities we
have for Judaising Sunday; but we might at least
understand that many would consider the ob-
servance of one day in seven as ordained by a
higher authority, by the highest indeed of all con-
ceivable authorities. We must believe, however, if
we regard the Puritans as our sufficient guide in
this matter, that not only were they right in insist-
ing on Sunday as a substitute for the Jewish
Sabbath, but also in assigning a number of new
Sabbath regulations, such as the Jews, and the
teacher, whoever he may have been, from whom
the Jews received their Sabbath laws, had never
thought of enjoining. No one, I should imagine,
considers the Puritans of sufficient authority to
The most
countenance teachings of this sort.
outspoken among them, those who exerted greatest
influence, were as ignorant as they were bigoted, as
cruel as they were crafty-the last men in the
world from whom a cultured people would care to
take their religious observances.
But if we do take the Puritans as our autho-
rities in this matter, we ought in all reason to
take their views as they stood. We have no right,
if they really were commissioned to lay down the
law for us in such matters, to accept a part of
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
397
their teaching and reject the rest. The punishment
for Sunday labour, presumptuously and with a high
hand carried on, should be death now, as the Puri-
tans (when free from the trammels of civil control)
taught in the seventeenth century that it should
be. The kissing of a wife by her husband, or of
a husband by a wife on Sunday, should still be
an offence punishable at civil law. And now, as
two thousand years ago, soldiery or police should
be enjoined to allow none to remain in the streets.
either before or after the hours of noonday service.
But if we do not accept the Puritans as autho-
rity, we find equal difficulty when we turn to the
Catholic Church in pre-Reformation times. If that
Church really had power to bind and loose men
with regard to Sunday observance, then we should
pay the same respect to that Church's ordinances
´about saints' days and other Church holidays;
apart always from the fact that for several cen-
turies the Catholic Church enjoined no such strict
observance of Sundays as afterwards she insisted
upon.
A similar difficulty is met with if, going farther
back, we take Constantine as our authority. We
have the same authority for the observance of
Constantine's birthday and the kalends of January.
Whatever reason may be used to show that Con-
X 2
308
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
stantine was a sufficient authority in one matter,
establishes his authority in the other also.
But lastly, if we go back to Moses, and reject-
ing the opinion of those who considered in old
times that the Jewish Sabbath was abrogated, and
the opinion also of those others who considered
that the Christian Sunday should not resemble the
Jewish Sabbath, whether this last were abrogated
or not, adopt the opinion that the Fourth Com-
mandment should now be understood as transferred
from the Sabbath to Sunday, how does the matter
then stand? Have we any reason for selecting
this one special day from among all the other days
that Moses commanded the people to observe?
If we are to hold, at least with regard to the
Sabbath, that not one jot or tittle of the law of
Moses has passed away, how can we escape the
obligation of observing other days and other
seasons about which the Mosaic law was equally
definite? Moses said, 'Six days shalt thou do thy
work, and in the seventh day thou shalt rest;'
but he also said, 'Six years thou shalt sow thy
land, but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and
be still.' Are we to keep this law of the seventh
year or the law of the year of jubilee, as well as
the law of the seventh day?
Yet once more, we know that Moses com-
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
309
manded the people to observe the festival of the
New Moon, and this festival should be observed
by us now, if the law of Moses is really to be
regarded as of authority over us. So far as we can
judge from the sacrifices respectively appointed
for this festival and the Sabbath-day, the former
was held to be of at least equal importance with
the latter. On the Sabbath-day the sacrifices were
'two lambs of the first year without spot, and two
tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled
with oil, and the drink offering thereof: this is the
burnt offering of every Sabbath, beside the con-
tinual burnt offering and his drink offering.' On
the feast of the New Moon, 'in the beginnings of
your months, ye shall offer,' says the Mosaic law,
'a burnt offering unto the Lord; two young
bullocks, and one ram, seven lambs of the first
year without spot; and three tenth deals of flour
for a meat offering, mingled with oil, for one
bullock; and two tenth deals of flour for a meat
offering, mingled with oil, for one ram; and a
several tenth deal of flour, mingled with oil, for a
meat offering unto one lamb; for a burnt offering
of a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the
Lord. And their drink offerings shall be half an
hin of wine unto a bullock, and the third part of
an hin unto a ram, and a fourth part of an hin
310
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
unto a lamb: this is the burnt offering of every
month throughout the months of the year. And
one kid of the goats for a sin offering unto the
Lord shall be offered, beside the continual burnt
offering and his drink offering.' The continual
burnt offering mentioned here, and in the descrip-
tion of the Sabbath offering, is the morning sacri-
fice, all these ceremonies, daily, weekly, monthly,
and the yearly sacrifice of the Passover, being
survivals of the practices of the star-worshipping
ancestors of the Jews. Indeed, if we accept the
Jewish law of the Sabbath, we ought not only to
accept with it the festival of the New Moon, and
other festivals (the Passover we have very little
modified), but the principle of sacrifices, offerings
of meat and drink to God, or to a god supposed to
care for such things, and moreover, the recog-
nition of the heavenly bodies as deities, which,
however skilfully disguised by Moses and other
Jewish lawgivers, in reality underlies the entire
ceremonial system of the Jewish religion.
Then also the observance of Sunday, if really
based on the Fourth Commandment, should corre-
spond more closely than is actually the case with
the observance of the Jewish Sabbath. It corre-
sponds too closely, in many respects, already with
Sabbath observance. But the correspondence
THE HISTORY OF SUNDAY.
311
should be exact if the Sunday really has replaced
the Sabbath. I wonder, indeed, that some of the
superstitious abuses of the Jewish Sabbath should
not have commended themselves ere this to the
modern Sabbatarian, so closely does their spirit
accord with that in which he urges the observance
of the Lord's day. The Doritheans, for instance,
taking the precept of Moses, 'Abide ye every man
in his place,' interpreted it to mean that every man
should remain throughout the Sabbath day in
whatever attitude he chanced to be in on the
Sabbath morning: If he was sitting, he must
continue to sit; if lying, he must continue to lie
down.' 'The rabbinical doctors,' we are told, 'met
this by saying that as a man's place was 2,000
cubits all round him, he did not break the Mosaical
command provided he kept himself within that
distance. The rabbins were unrivalled in such
sophistry. They invented thirty-nine negative
precepts relative to the Sabbath; for instance,
people were not to walk on the grass, for walking
on it would bruise it, and such bruising amounted
to a kind of threshing. Shoes without nails might
be borne; but shoes with nails were a burthen.'
And so forth.
312
ASTROLOGY.
WE are apt to speak of astrology as though it
were an altogether contemptible superstition, and
to contemplate with pity those who believed in it
in old times; and yet, if we consider the matter
aright, we must concede, I think, that of all the
errors into which men have fallen in their desire to
penetrate into futurity, astrology is the most
respectable, one may even say the most reasonable.
Indeed, all other methods of divination of which I
have ever heard are not worthy to be mentioned in
company with astrology, which, delusion though
it was, had yet a foundation in thoughts well
worthy of consideration. The heavenly bodies do
rule the fates of men and nations in the most un-
mistakable manner, seeing that without the con-
trolling and beneficent influences of the chief
among these orbs-the sun-every living creature
on the earth must perish. The ancients perceived
that the moon has so potent an influence on our
world, that the waters of the ocean rise and fall in
unison with her apparent circling motion round
ASTROLOGY.
313
the earth. Seeing that two among the orbs which
move upon the unchanging dome of the star-
sphere are thus potent in terrestrial influences, was
it not natural that the other moving bodies known
to the ancients should be thought to possess also
their special powers? The moon, seemingly less
important than the sun, not merely by reason of
her less degree of splendour, but also because she
performs her circuit of the star-sphere in a shorter
interval of time, was seen to possess a powerful
influence, but still an influence far less important
than that exerted by the sun, or rather than the
many influences manifestly emanating from him.
But other bodies travelled in yet wider circuits if
their distances could be inferred from their periods
of revolution. Was it not reasonable to suppose
that the influences exerted by those slowly moving
bodies might be even more potent than those of
the sun himself? Mars circling round the star-
sphere in a period nearly twice as great as the
sun's, Jupiter in twelve years, and Saturn in
twenty-nine, might well be thought to be rulers of
superior dignity to the sun, though less glorious in
appearance; and since no obvious direct effects
are produced by them as they change in position,
it was natural to attribute to them influences more
subtle, but not the less potent.
314
ASTROLOGY.
Thus was conceived the thought that the
fortunes of every man born into the world depend
on the position of the various planets at the
moment of his birth. And if there was something
artificial in the rules by which various influences
were assigned to particular planets, or to particular
aspects of the planets, it must be remembered that
the system of astrology was formed gradually and
perhaps tentatively. Some influences may have
been inferred fronı observed events, the fate of this
or that king or chief guiding astrologers in assign-
ing particular influences to such planetary aspects
as were presented at the time of his nativity.
Others may have been invented, and afterwards
have found general acceptance because confirmed
by some curious coincidences. In the long run,
indeed, any series of experimental predictions
must have led to some very surprising fulfilments,
that is, to fulfilments which would have been ex-
ceedingly surprising if the corresponding predic-
tions had been the only ones made by astrologers.
Such instances, carefully collected, may at first
have been used solely to improve the system of
prediction. The astrologer may have been careful
to separate the fulfilled from the unfulfilled pre-
dictions, and thus to establish a safe rule. For it
must be remembered that, admitting the car-
ÁSTROLOGY.
315
dinal principle of astrology, the astrologer had
every reason to believe that he could experi-
mentally determine a true method of prediction.
If the planets really rule the fate of each man,
then we have only to calculate their position at
the known time of any man's birth, and to consider
his fortunes, to have facts whence to infer the
manner in which their influence is exerted. The
study of one man's life would of course be alto-
gether insufficient. But when the fortunes of many
men were studied in this way, the astrologer
(always supposing his first supposition right) would
have materials from which to form a system of
prediction.
Go a step farther. Select a body of the ablest
men in a country, and let them carry out continuous
studies of the heavens, carefully calculate nativities
for every person of note, or even for every soul born
in their country, and compare the events of each per-
son's life with the planetary relations presented at his
birth. It is manifest that a trustworthy system of
prediction would, in the long run, be deduced by
them, if astrology have any real basis in fact.
I do not say that astrologers always proceeded
in this experimental manner. Doubtless in those
days, as now, men of science were variously con-
stituted, some being disposed to trust chiefly to
316
ASTROLOGY.
observation, while others were ready to generalise,
and yet others evolved theories from the depths of
their moral consciousness. Indeed, what we know
of the development of astrology in later times, as
well as the way in which other modes of divination
have sprung into existence, shows that the natural
tendency of astrologers would be to invent systems
rather than to establish them by careful and long-
continued observation. Within a very few years
of the discovery of the spots on the sun a tolerably
complete system of divination was founded upon.
the appearance, formation, and motions of these
objects. Certainly this system was not based on
observation, nor will any one suppose that the rules
for reading the hand' had an observational origin,
or that fortune-telling by means of cards was
derived from a careful comparison of the result of
shuffling, cutting, and dealing, with the future
fortunes of those for whose enlightenment these
important processes were performed.
But we must not forget that astrology was
originally a science, though a false one. Grant
the truth of its cardinal idea, and it had every right
to this position. No office could be more im-
portant than that of the astrologer, no services
could be more useful than those he was capable of
rendering according to his own belief as well as
ASTROLOGY.
317
It is only
that of those who employed him.
necessary to mention the history of astrology to
perceive the estimation in which it was held in
ancient times.
As to the extreme antiquity of astrology it is
perhaps needless to speak; indeed, its origin is so
remote that we have only imperfect traditions re-
specting its earliest developments. Yet it may be
worth while to mention some of these traditions,
seeing that, whether true or not, they show clearly
enough the great antiquity attributed to astrology,
even in times which to ourselves appear remote.
Philo asserts that Terah, the father of Abraham,
was skilled in all that relates to astrology; and,
according to Josephus, the Chaldæan Berosus.
attributed to Abraham a profound knowledge of
arithmetic, astrology, and astronomy, in which
sciences he instructed the Egyptians. Diodorus
Siculus says that the Heliadæ, or children of the
sun (that is, men from the East), excelled all other
men in knowledge, particularly in the knowledge
of the stars. One of this race, named Actis (a ray),
built Heliopolis, and named it after his father, the
Thenceforward the Egyptians cultivated
astrology with so much assiduity as to be con-
sidered its inventors. On the other hand Tatius
says that the Egyptians taught the Chaldæans
sun.
318
ASTROLOGY.
astrology. The people of Thebais, according to
Diodorus Siculus, claimed the power of predicting
every future event with the utmost certainty; they
also asserted that they were of all races the most
ancient.
However, we have, both in Egypt and in
Assyria, records far more satisfactory than these
conflicting statements to prove the great antiquity
of astrology, and the importance attached to it
when it was regarded as a science. The Great
Pyramid in Egypt was unquestionably an astro-
nomical, that is (for in the science of the ancients.
the two terms are convertible) an astrological
building. The Birs Nimroud,' supposed to be
built on the ruins of the tower of Babel, was also
built for astrologers. The forms of these buildings
testify to the astronomical purposes for which they
were erected. The Great Pyramid, like the inferior
buildings copied from it, was most carefully
oriented, that is, the four sides were built facing
exactly north, south, east, and west. The astro-
nomical use of this arrangement is manifest. By
1 Every brick hitherto removed from this edifice bears the
stamp of King Nebuchadnezzar. It affords a wonderful idea of the
extent and grandeur of the buildings raised by the tyrants of old
times, that the ruins of a single building on the site of Babylon
(Rich's Kasr) has for ages been the mine from which the builders
of cities rising after the fall of Babylon have obtained their
materials.'-Layard's Nineveh.
ASTROLOGY.
319
looking along either of the two long straight sides.
lying east and west the astronomer could tell the
true east or west points of the horizon, and deter-
mine when the sun rose in the east¹ exactly, or set
exactly in the west. By looking along the straight
sides lying north and south, the astronomer could
tell when the sun, or any other celestial body, was
in the meridian. Proclus informs us that the pyra-
mids terminated at the top in a platform, on which
the priests made their celestial observations.
The figure of the Babylonian temple of
astronomy was probably different, though it is
possible that Nebuchadnezzar altogether modified
the proportions of the original temple. We may
infer the nature of the earlier use of such temples
from later usages. We learn from Diodorus Siculus
that, in the midst of Babylon, a great temple was
¹ A good story is told about the rising of the sun in the east, the
point of the joke being different, perhaps, to astronomers than to
others :—A certain baron was noted for never replying directly, even
to the simplest questions, and a wager was laid that, if he were
asked whether the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, he
would not answer directly, even though told of the wager. The
question was put, and he began—'The terms east and west, gentle-
men, are conventional, but admitting that; the rest of the
reply was lost, the wager being won, which was all the inquirers
cared for. If this worthy had answered simply 'Yes,' the wager
would have been lost, but the reply would not have been correct;
for the sun never has risen in the east and set in the west, exactly,
at any place or on any day since the world began. If the sun rises
due east on any day, he does not set due west, and vice versa.
320
ASTROLOGY.
erected by Semiramis, and dedicated to Belus or
Jupiter, and that on its roof or summit the Chal-
dæan astronomers contemplated, and exactly noted,
the risings and settings of the stars.'
If we consider the manner in which the study
of science, for its own sake, has always been viewed
by Oriental nations, we must admit that these
great buildings, and these elaborate and costly ar-
rangements for continued observation, were not
intended to advance the science of astronomy.
Only the hope that results of extreme value would
be obtained by observing the heavenly bodies could
have led the monarchs of Assyria and of Older
Egypt to make such lavish provision of money and
labour for the erection and maintenance of astro-
nomical observatories. So that, apart from the
evidence we have of the astrological object of
celestial observations in ancient times, we find in
the very nature of the buildings erected for ob-
serving the stars the clearest proof that men in
those times hoped to gain results of great value
from such work. Now, we know that neither the
improvement of navigation nor increased exactness
in the surveying of the earth was aimed at by
those who built those ancient observatories: the
only conceivable object they can have had was the
discovery of a perfectly trustworthy system of pre-
ASTROLOGY.
321
diction from the
heavenly bodies.
study of the motions of the
That this was their object is
shown with equal clearness by the fact that such a
system, according to their belief, was deduced from
these observations, and was for ages accepted
without question.
Closely associated with astrological superstitions
was the widespread form of religion called Sabaism,
or the worship of the host of heaven (Sabaoth).
It is not easy to determine whether the worship of
the sun, moon, and planets preceded or followed
the study of the heavens as a means of divination
It is probable that the two forms of superstition
sprang simultaneously into existence. The shep-
herds of Chaldæa, who-
Watched from the centres of their sleeping flocks
Those radiant Mercuries, that seemed to move,
Carrying through æther in perpetual round,
Decrees and resolutions of the gods,
can hardly have regarded the planetary movements
as indicating, without believing that those move-
ments actually influenced, the fate of men and
nations; in other words, the idea of planetary
power must from the very beginning, it would seem,
have been associated with the idea of the signifi-
cance of planetary motions. Be this as it may, it
Y
322
ASTROLOGY.
is certain that in the earliest times of which we
have any historical record, belief in astrology was
associated with the worship of the host of heaven.
In the Bible record we find the teachers and rulers
of the Jewish nation compelled continually to
struggle against the tendency of that people to
follow surrounding nations in forsaking the worship
of the God of Sabaoth for the worship of Sabaoth,
turning from the Creator to the creature. They
would seem even, as the only means of diverting
the people from the worship of those false gods, to
have adopted all the symbols of Sabaism, explain-
ing them, however, with sole reference to the God
of Sabaoth. Moses adopted, in this way, the four
forms of sacrifice to which the Jewish people had
become accustomed in Egypt-the offerings to the
rising and setting sun (Numbers xxviii. 3, 4); the
offerings on the day dedicated to the planet
Saturn, chief of the seven star-gods (Numbers
xxviii. 9); the offerings to the new moon (Num-
bers xxviii. 11); and the offerings for the luni-solar
festival belonging to the first month of the sun's
annual circuit of the zodiacal constellations (Num-
bers xxviii. 16, 17). All these offerings were in a
sense sanctified by the manner in which he enjoined
them, and the new meaning he attached to them;
but that the original offerings were Sabaistic is
ASTROLOGY.
323
scarcely open to question. The tenacity, indeed,
with which astrological ceremonies and supersti-
tions have maintained their position, even among
nations utterly rejecting star-worship, and even in
times when astronomy has altogether dispossessed
astrology, indicates how wide and deep must have
been the influence of those superstitions in remoter
ages. Even now the hope on which astrological
superstitions were based, the hope that we may one
day learn to lift the veil concealing the future from
our view, has not been altogether abandoned. The
wiser reject it as a superstition, but even the wisest
have at one time or other felt its delusive in-
fluence.
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•
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