I cited an alignment at the Hurlers which marked the rising point of Betelgeuse. This star warned the summer solstice sunrise at about the Hurlers’ date. So far, however, I have not yet found any suggestion of its use elsewhere.
At Shovel Down and Challacombe on Dartmoor there are avenues pointing a few degrees west of north. The sight-lines along these avenues would mark the setting-point of Arcturus at the time that that star (setting) warned the rising of the sun at the summer solstice; but this use cannot be considered as established, as Arcturus would scarcely set before its light was drowned in that of the rising sun. The absence of darkness in high summer in these latitudes and the bad weather in the winter may both be responsible for so few alignments for the solstices.
The equinoctial pyramid and Babylonian cult in vogue in Egypt in the early dynasties (4000 B.C.), with the warning stars Aldebaran (March) and Vega (September), was represented in Greece at a much later period. The facts for Greece, according to Mr. Penrose, are as follows:--
+---------------------------+---------------+------+--------+----- | | | Decl.| Day. |Year. +---------------------------+---------------+------+--------+----- | | | | |B.C. | |MARCH. | | | | | | | | |Nike Apteros |Spica (setting)|+6°10′|Mar. 17|1130 |Juno Lacinia (near Croton) |α-Arietis |+7 27 | „ 28|1000 |Paestum (Neptune) |Spica (setting)|+3 5 | „ 22| 535 |Gergenti (Hercules) | „ |+2 30 | „ 30| 470 | | | | | | |SEPTEMBER. | | | | | | | | |Rhamnus (Themis) |Spica (rising) |+6° 0′|Sept. 17|1092 |Tegea (Minerva) | „ „ |+5 51 | „ 18|1075 |Syracuse (? Minerva) | „ |+4 30 | „ 20| 815 |Athens (dedication unknown)| „ |+4 17 | „ 23| 780 |Rhamnus (Nemesis) | „ „ |+4 5 | „ 22| 747 |Bassæ (Apollo) | „ „ |+3 57 | „ 22| 728 |Ephesus (Diana) | „ „ |+3 57 | „ 25| 715 |Syracuse (Diana) | „ „ |+2 22 | „ 26| 450 |Ephesus (Diana) | „ | -- |Oct. 6| 355 |(re-orientation) | | | | +---------------------------+---------------+------+--------+----
In Britain equinoctial alignments are not wanting, but so few have been traced that I have reserved them for future inquiry.
[124] The temple conditions are approximately as follows:--
Azimuths. Decl. N. 21° 30′ E. 60° 15′ } N. 18 0 E. 62 36 }Stellar temples. Clock-stars. S. 27 0 W. 56 17 } S. 66 0 E. 23 0 Solstice}Solar temples. S. 73 0 E. 16 0 May }