Holger Isenberg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Byrd Wrote:
>
> I'm not into beliefs. I see that the whole temple
> is rotated from true north by the precise angle to
> point with 2 of the 4 sides towards the horizon
> location where Sirius re-appears after its yearly
> pause.

You can't see Sirius rising from any point in the temple -- or indeed any sunrise.

Since the whole temple is dedicated to Hathor with two birth houses and imagery and text devoted to birth, it is more likely that the direction indicates the constellation Taweret. There's also references to other deities associated with birth and with protecting mother and baby. These are never present in the few situations where Sirius is presented.

Hathor, by the time of the Ptolemaic dynasty, could take on a hippopotamus form when acting as a protector -- and by this time period, Set had again become the villain of the theological piece, so a birthing place that points to Hathor-as-Taweret chaining down the leg of Set (destruction and misfortune) - basically keeping him from harming the new mother and her baby - is consistent with the purpose of the temple.

If they'd wanted it for Sirius, they would have pointed the entrance toward the location where it was expected to rise, so they could see and celebrate it and welcome it with offerings...not 90 degrees away from that point.

However, this is a moot point since Sirius wasn't worshiped at the time of the building of the temple. They'd had a workable calendar for thousands of years and knew the date when to expect the flood to start rising.

There are references to a temple to Sothis (Isis-Sothis) that dates to fairly early (5th dynasty?) in Egyptian history. I'll have to see if I can dig up more, but the imagery there and the orientation would be very specifically for Sirius.

-- Byrd
Moderator, Hall of Ma'at