What I'm squawking about is that we have no idea where the first Karnak point came from. Why does it not seem to mesh with other calculations using the same data? Why doesn't he show how he came to that figure?
No? It seems he does mention it somewhat.
"
A remarkable confirmation of the obliquity in the year 2045 B.C. is given by the oriented solar Temple of Amen Ra at Karnak, Egypt, the largest temple that has ever been built. This is described in
Chapter 8. Hieroglyphic inscriptions, engraved in granite, show that the ancient Egyptians took great pains to orient their solar temples. The rays of the rising or setting sun, on certain important dates, then shone straight down the long central avenue, or temple axis, into the darkened sanctuary and illuminated the image of the sun-god within it.
In the great Solar Temple at Karnak, this occurred at sunset on the day of the summer solstice. It will be shown that in 2045 B.C., the foundation date of the Temple, the sun's solstitial declination, or maximum distance from the celestial equator, was 25 degrees, 9 minutes, 55 seconds.
This value is in exact agreement with the prolongation of the curve of the ancient observations, and exceeds Newcomb's value for that date by 1 degree 14 minutes."
"
In ancient times Egypt was pre-eminently a centre of Sun-worship. Many of its temples were dedicated to the sun gods Ra, Amen Ra, Horus, Osiris, etc. Among these were the famous temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, Karnak and Abu Simbel. Sir Norman Lockyer, who describes their astronomical purposes in his book
The Dawn of Astronomy, also mentions the Solar Temples at Abydos, Kasr Kerun, Memnonia (Avenue of Sphinxes), and Erment, in addition to the group of temples at Karnak which were solstitially oriented
A special feature of the Egyptian Solar Temples was the long central Avenue, or Axis, through which the beams of the rising or setting sun shone upon the altar in the darkened sanctuary, or Holy of Holies at the farther end of the Axis. The shining of the sun, with its long horizontal beam of light traversing the Axis and illuminating the image of the sun-god, [which was] placed in the sanctuary, was called by the Egyptians The Manifestation of Ra. A detailed account of this is given in Sir Norman Lockyers book,
The Dawn of Astronomy.
It is well known that the temples of Egypt were also astronomical observatories; and the priests were the astronomers and philosophers of their time.
The needs of common life, and the daily routine and annual festivals of the temples demanded a reliable calendar, and subdivision of time, which could only be provided by astronomical observations. The priests became astronomers, and at a surprisingly early date the opening of the year was fixed by the heliacal rising of Sirius.
(G.E. Hale, Beyond the Milky Way, 1926, p. 5)
Strabo says that
their astronomical documents, or registers of observations, made during long centuries, have remained celebrated. (Strabo,
Geography, Book 17. Chapter 1, section 29)"
....
For the great Solar Temple of Amen Ra at Karnak, however, we have all the necessary information, thanks to the pioneering work of Sir Norman Lockyer, supplemented by the more recent exact survey and re-measurement of this temple, made by the Survey Department of Egypt.
.....
The mean date, taken from a number of recent Egyptological works (
Cambridge Ancient History, Breasted, Budge, etc.) places the commencement of the XII Dynasty at about 2050 B.C., and I have adopted 2045 B.C. as the date of the foundation of the earliest part of the Karnak Temple of Amen Ra.
The rise of the religion of Amen Ra dates from this time, and the Kings of the XII Dynasty were the first to incorporate the name of Amen in their accession names, Amen-Emhat meaning Amen is at the head. (J. Capart and M. Werbrouk,
Thebes, 1926, p. 61)
