Holger Isenberg Wrote:
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> Byrd Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
> > You can't see Sirius rising from any point in
> the
> > temple -- or indeed any sunrise.
>
> You can use the front or back wall as visor line,
> simple. But yes, there is no visible feature for
> the casual local visitor as the 18° rotation angle
> from north is only visible on aerial maps. Even a
> compass wouldn't help as true north is in most
> locations on Earth not equal to magnetic Earth
> north. The roof temple in the Western corner with
> its open walls would be perfect to install a
> wooden visor instrument to measure the star
> positions to predict the Sirius rising day. The
> astronomers of that time certainly would keep
> their knowledge secret. What advantage for them
> would it have to tell it the public?

"Secret knowledge" of something that was so mundane it was marked on the calendars? Of an astronomical observation that had been public for thousands of years? It was hardly a secret.

> seen some speculative papers talking about the
> temple's long axis pointing to Draco. In principle
> that would make sense, as you could see it when
> standing in the center of the temple and viewing
> through the large entrance opening which points
> 18° to the right from the celestial pole.
> But I haven't seen any geometric / astrometric
> explanation how to define "aligned to Draco" as
> the constellation is rotating once every day
> around the celestial pole. There isn't any special
> day in the year where it suddenly becomes visible,

Yes, it's a constant. Human babies (unlike man mammals) are born randomly at any time of the year and there's a constant need for protection. Remember that the constellation wasn't "Draco"... it was "Taweret" the protector, who restrains evil and harm.

>
> > 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.
>
> In the pure geometric way that would indeed make
> more sense, but then every casual observer walking
> into the temple could see the secret.

What secret? Even the farmers knew this.

> So the
> Tawaret / Draco story could be some brainfog
> deliberately created to misguide too curious
> researchers.

All they would have to do is say "no, you can't go in there." And nobody gets past the guards. This is what they did for all the most sacred areas of every temple (and there was one area where only certain priests could enter.)

But the Egyptians weren't into mystery schools and the like. That was the Greeks, and you'll find that in temples and areas devoted to mystery schools, the objects of their interest were heavily indicated in all the interior (private) areas. If you count the number of Hathors versus the number of other representations, you'll find a lot of things that are more represented than Sirius and a lot of things that have the same amount of representation.

There's no indication that it was special. And, as I said, the rising of Sirius was something that everyone seemed to know about and was so unremarkable or so uninteresting that the didn't build temples to the star and didn't align things toward the star (unlike the great solar temples, for example.)

-- Byrd
Moderator, Hall of Ma'at