....continued

Nowadays, Polaris happens to be our polestar and the declination of Sirius is 16 2/3° below the celestial equator, which is the same angle as marked in Dendera’s zodiac by the position(s) of Sirius. Thus, the foundation date of the zodiac has to be prudently chosen by astronomers, so that the position of Sirius fits with their theory of lunisolar precession. For instance, a slight shift of the sine function allows the current declination value of Sirius to be very similar to the celestial position of this star around 50 BCE (Jean-Baptiste Biot, the early French astronomer, assumed a date of around 715 BCE for the very same reason):

This graphic does not account for the proper motion of Sirius, since this discussion focuses on the absolute position of Sirius in the sky and not on the accuracy of any astronomical dating methods. The declination curve of Sirius represents a complete lunisolar precession cycle of about 25800 years. The period between the negative and positive amplitude is therefore, half of the presumed precession cycle or about 12900 years. During this period the celestial equator has changed its position by approx. 47° (2 × 23.5°) relative to the position of the fixed stars. In order to produce the same position of Sirius (currently 16.6° below the celestial equator) in the year 50 BCE, the sine function has to be shifted accordingly. As a result, Sirius has its lowest declination value of minus 15.8° around 975 CE; i.e. its upper culmination was roughly 1° higher than nowadays.

Teotihuacán & The Great Pyramid

Teotihuacán is a mysterious ancient city located approx. 30 km northwest of Mexico City. It is not known when and by whom it was built. Called the “City of the Gods” its detailed lay-out and architecture hints to the intentions of its designers. Some researchers have discovered certain markings, and suggested that these represent the planets (incl. Pluto) and their relative distances; sort of a scaled-down version of the solar system.
However, it is the offset-angle of the so-called “Avenue of the Dead” which is a truly outstanding geometrical feature. Given the design of the city, this 45 m wide and over 4 km long road (with a subtle declination of approx. 27 m towards the south) makes an angle of 16 2/3° with respect to True North.

Many of the principle structures and ceremonial centers of Mesoamerica share a very similar alignment. Anthony F. Aveni, a distinguished Professor of Astronomy and Anthroplogy, referred to it as the “17° family”. Since the generalized “17° offset” of Teotihuacán has been copied in much later periods, Aveni assumes that all these major sites were oriented in such a way because it marked the faintly visible setting of the Pleiades around 150 CE. Taking into account the effects of precession, Aveni could therefore, not have assigned a much earlier epoch for the foundation of Teotihuacán.

Is it a coincidence that the same angle marks the position of Sirius in Dendera? If Teotihuacán and other major Mesoamerican sites are “copies of a coincidence”, having its origin in an ancient Egyptian temple, would this imply that Teotihuacán and the other sites were designed and constructed around 50 BCE? Hardly so, unless we want to suggest that the Great Pyramid of Egypt also belongs to that same epoch. Just as the Temple of Hathor marks the current position of Sirius, so does the southern 45° shaft of the Great Pyramid. Such an astronomical phenomenon would only occur once every 25800 years, according to the theory of lunisolar precession. Because it is believed that Sirius was several degrees below the 45° shaft around 2450 BCE, some experts see this as possible evidence that the ancient Egyptians knew about precession. They think that the designers of the Great Pyramid must have somehow planned for this rare cosmic occurrence so we can witness it during our lifetimes.

Science tells us that the stellar alignements could be a product of "chance". Ironically, one has failed to realize that there is a more plausible scientific explanation: Sirius is our Sun’s dual and the Pyramid’s 45°-shaft always remains aligned with the upper culmination of Sirius. Evidently, the Great Pyramid, the Temple of Dendera and Mesoamerican sites incorporate a design which bears witness to this astronomical fact.

Uwe Homann

February 2005

NOTE: This article is based on a condensed and recently revised German text, originally written and published as part of an essay by Karl-H. Homann in 1996

© Sirius Research Group

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References:

Karl-H. Homann, "Und Sie Dreht Sich Doch Um Sothis", (1996)

R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, “Sacred Science”, Inner Traditions (1982)

Karine Gadré, "The round Dendara zodiac: The temples of Isis and Hathor", Culture Diff', France (2004)

Jed Z. Buchwald, "Egyptian Stars under Paris Skies", Caltech, Engineering & Science (2003)

Anthony F. Aveni, "Stairway to the Stars", John Wiley & Sons (1997)