Historic Importance Of Orion/Taurus Sky Region To The Ancients

Historic Importance of Orion/Taurus Sky Region to the Ancients

From the beginning of civilisation man has been enamoured with a region of the sky encompassing Orion and Taurus. According to German researcher Dr Michael Rappenglueck, of the University of Munich a Magdalenian picture depicts the Pleiades, Hyades and Taurus. It appears to also represent the three stars of Orion's belt. Recent evidence shows many cave paintings were added to in Magdalenian times but started back in 32000 BC.

Anyone who has spent some time looking at the night sky can see why ancient man was fascinated by this region and Ockham's razor would give this as the simplest explanation. That would be the end of this investigation if it weren't for a number of clues.

The Magdalenian star map gives one such clue. In the line of sight of the bull, in between Taurus and Orion, there is an X. This would not be of any significance if it weren't for the fact it is in the position of a nearby star that is potentially habitable (Gliese 201, distance 48 light years). Within 50 light years of Earth there are some 200 stars that have a luminosity great than that of a red dwarf. Many of these are too bright and would probably not exist long enough to harbor life. Others would be too faint and require too close an orbit to the star. Many are close orbiting binaries that would disrupt the evolution of planets. Some stars have highly variable luminosity. Finally some stars are relatively young, which is not the case with our candidate star.

Thus it can be estimated that to 50 light years there would be approximately 70 stars suitable for life as we know it. If evenly spaced, each would occupy a region of sky 26 degrees in diameter. This is approximately the area of the entire constellation of Taurus plus the top half of Orion. If one allows for a latitude of error of 5 degrees for the location, which is fairly pessimistic, the odds were 25 to 1 against a suitable star being at the location of the X.

A sculpture found in Germany and dating to 32500 to 38000 BC has been interpreted by Dr Michael Rappenglueck as a picture of Orion. This is based on the shape and the proper motion of a particular star within Orion. The sculpture has 48 to 52 notches on the back (The distance in light years to Gliese 201).

Gliese 201 is a distant member of a quadruple star system. The other three much closer orbiting stars are designated as 111 Tauri a, b and c. This is a third clue as the X on the Magdalenian star map is composed of 4 non-touching lines.

This would all be rather speculative if it weren't for certain written evidence pointing towards this region of the sky.

From the dead sea scrolls, in Aramaic, the constellation of Orion was known as Nephila. Orion's descendants were known as Nephilim The well known bible passage states:

"Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown"

Dating to the old kingdom of Egypt from the pyramid texts we have:

"The celestial portal to the horizon is opened to you. And the gods are joyful at meeting you. They take you to the sky with your soul...You are traversing the winding waterway (milky-way) as a star crossing the sea. The Duat has grasped your hand at the place where Orion is, the bull of the sky (Taurus) has given you his hand."

Gliese 201 is in the left hand of Orion on the Aurignacian Orion man carving.

The 3 pyramids of Giza have been associated with Orion's belt by Robert Bauval. They also have a remarkable relationship with the terrestrial planets, ordered in the ground plan in accordance with their size. The masses of the pyramids of Khufu, Khafra and Menkhaura multiplied by 1 million billion equals the masses of the Earth, Venus and Mars respectively, with an error of less than 7%. The pyramids of Mexico represent the sun and moon so it would not be unreasonable to assume the Giza pyramids also represent our nearest planets.

The identification of the pyramids with 4th dynasty pharaohs, based on the supposed discoveries of Wiesse has been challenged successfully before and will not be pursued further here. The inventory stella is more likely to be a true history of the Giza necropolis states (with interpretations in brackets)

"Long live The King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Khufu, given life He found the house of Isis (The supposed sphinx temple and clearly covered in sand at the time of Khufu and so ancient already), Mistress of the Pyramid (Thus at least one great pyramid supposedly built by Khufu, Khafra or Menkaura existed already and was attributed to Isis), by the side of the hollow of Hwran (The Sphinx) and he built his pyramid (satellite pyramid to great pyramids or more likely pyramid in front of the temple) beside the temple of this goddess and he built a pyramid for the King's daughter Henutsen beside this temple (further satellite pyramid to great pyramids or more likely pyramids in front of the temple). The place of Hwran Horemakhet (The Khafra temple) is on the South side of the House of Isis, Mistress of the pyramid (as is the case). He restored the statue, all covered in painting, of the guardian of the atmosphere, who guides the winds with his gaze. He replaced the back part of the Nemes head-dress, which was missing with gilded stone.(Proof the sphinx existed before Khufu) The figure of this god, cut in stone, is solid and will last to eternity, keeping its face looking always to the East"

If the Khafra pyramid was associated with Isis and Venus, it would seem logical to associate the Khufu pyramid with Osiris (Earth) and the Menkaura pyramid with Horus (Mars). The ancient Egyptian name for Mars was Horus of the horizon or Horus the red. The Egyptian name for the pyramid was Hur.

While there may or may not be evidence of Egyptian civilisation further back than 5000 BC, there are certainly written records that take us back to the times of the Aurignacians and almost to the dawn of of our common ancestor.

Diodorus the Greek, according to Egyptian priests, gives a date of 10000 to 23000 BC as the date of Osiris.

There are a number of written records of the ancient God/King lists of Egypt that allude to dates as far back as 39600 BC for the reigns. It would be useful to examine these records to determine to what extent they match known events of pre-history. The dates given in table 1 below are by their nature approximate.

There have been attempts by Robert Bauval to deduce the significance of the alignment of the star shafts of the great pyramid. This has been confounded by the enormous time span between supposed alignment of the belt of Orion circa 2400 BC and the alignment of Leo to the East in 10500 BC. This would seem to be an unrealistically long time.

Analysing the architecture scientifically a very different conclusion can be reached. Through the eons many alignments with the southern star shafts are possible. The way to calibrate the system would be to find out when the brightest star in Leo aligns and see if this has any significance. The sphinx points East and is generally accepted to represent Leo rising. Regulus, which is located at the paw of Leo, aligns with the queen's southern star shaft in 13650 BC and prior to that in 39395 BC. As seen in the dates in table 1, these were significant times for Egypt. The next observation would be to determine which star is transiting the queen's southern star shaft while Regulus is rising in the East. In 13650 BC, remarkably this is the Tauri 111 and Gliese 201 system. In 39395 BC, due to the relative motion of the stars, the correlation with the star shafts is even more exact, although Tauri 111 culminates 10 minutes before Regulus rises in the East. A further observation is that Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus, transits the king's southern star shaft.

13650 BC was the approximate time of arrival of the Magdalenian art and agriculture in Egypt, the beginning of the first cold snap, the commencement of the reign of kings according to Manetho and the reigns of the Followers of Horus according to the Turin Papyrus. 39395 BC is the approximate time of the arrival of Aurignacian culture in Europe and North Africa and the start date of the king lists.

Table 1: Key historic dates relevant to the discussion

50000 BC Origin of common ancestor in Africa

43000 to 36000 BC Arrival in Europe and North Africa of Aurignacians.

38000 BC Aurignacian art

36500 BC Ra, Osiris etc. The start of Egyptian dynasties if total years used. (Manetho)

36600 BC Rules before Followers of Horus started. (39600 BC if dynasties excluded) (Turin papyrus) . > 39000 BC date attributed to Herodotus, based on precession.

15300 BC From the Turin Papyrus, the kings of the North

14500 BC Demi-Gods (Manetho)

13500 BC Possible arrival of Magdalenian art and beginning of agriculture in Egypt, which ended 10500 BC.

13400 BC From Turin Papyrus, Followers of Horus if dynasties included

13200 BC Kings (Manetho)

13000 BC Peak of Magdelenian art.

13000 BC Cold snap

12000 BC 1st flood (40 meters)

10500 BC 2nd cold snap

9600 BC From Plato date of destruction of Atlantis by flood

9600 BC 2nd flood (40 meters)

9500 BC Spirits of the dead (reign of 5813 years Manetho)

Before 8000 BC end of cave painting. Break in period of art of 5 to 6 millenia

The sphinx dates to before 5000 BC due to rain weathering. The great pyramid mortar dates to 3800 BC, but this may be repair work.

6500 BC 3rd Cold snap,

5500 BC 3rd flood (15 meters)

5000 to 3500 BC Pre-Dynastic Egypt