made interesting studies in regard to this subject, and a hundred
years later, in our own time, Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer,
following up the work of various intermediary observers, has
given the subject much attention, making it the central theme of
his work on The Dawn of Astronomy.[1] Lockyer's researches make
it clear that in the main the temples of Egypt were oriented with
reference to the point at which the sun rises on the day of the
summer solstice. The time of the solstice had peculiar interest
for the Egyptians, because it corresponded rather closely with
the time of the rising of the Nile. The floods of that river
appear with very great regularity; the on-rushing tide reaches
the region of Heliopolis and Memphis almost precisely on the day
of the summer solstice. The time varies at different stages of
the river's course, but as the civilization of the early
dynasties centred at Memphis, observations made at this place had
widest vogue.

Considering the all-essential character of the Nile
floods-without which civilization would be impossible in
Egypt--it is not strange that the time of their appearance should
be taken as marking the beginning of a new year. The fact that
their coming coincides with the solstice makes such a division of
the calendar perfectly natural. In point of fact, from the
earliest periods of which records have come down to us, the new
year of the Egyptians dates from the summer solstice. It is
certain that from the earliest historical periods the Egyptians
were aware of the approximate length of the year. It would be
strange were it otherwise, considering the ease with which a
record of days could be kept from Nile flood to Nile flood, or
from solstice to solstice. But this, of course, applies only to