We have some rather perplexing problems. However, let us first repeat. We can make it more explicit in a table what it means if we should regard the heliacal rising of Aldebaran (in rongorongo times) as a point from where to count days backwards to the beginning of the year - and thereby to find January 5.
Then: the Gregorian day number for the heliacal rising of Antares (329 for November 25) will be changed to 'Julian' November 21, which is day 325 counted from January 1. Of course November 25 does not correspond to November 21 according to the true Julian calendar created by Caesar, because his calendar had too long a year and the precession therefore had moved all its dates earlier and earlier in the year. Once again number 325 appears! March 25 (3-25) was by Julius Caesar defined as the date for spring equinox. On Easter Island they could have chosen to use this Julian date to set the southern spring equinox in day 325 counted from the beginning of the Gregorian year, thereby creating a kind of revived Julian calendar:
The measure 60 days from March 25 to May 28 (Aldebaran) corresponds to the effects of precession during ca 71 * 60 = 4260 years, which would date the Antares equinox position correctly in about the year 4260 - 1870 = 2390 B.C. In Babylonian times Antares would be approximately at one equinox and Aldebaran approximately at the other. "The earliest mention of the city of Babylon can be found in a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad (2334- 2279 BC), dating back to the 23rd century BC. Babylon was merely a religious and cultural centre at this point and not an independent state ..." (Wikipedia) Possibly there was a moon calendar system originating from that ancient time. At any rate the cycle of weeks survived the jump from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar: "The Julian calendar day Thursday, 4 October 1582 was followed by the first day of the Gregorian calendar, Friday, 15 October 1582 (the cycle of weekdays was not affected)." (Wikipedia) I can therefore keep my colours for the dates, but Aldebaran will in the 'Julian' system now be at a green day instead of a pink day, and Antaras will be in a pink day instead of black day. The Julian year was slightly too long and therefore spring equinox had gradually moved earlier in the Julian calendar. In A.D. 1500 it had reached to March 11 instead of the once decided March 25. This movement is in the other direction compared to the precession of the equinoxes, because a star which once had been mapped to spring equinox would gradually draw the date forward in the year. Before the Julian calendar existed we should expect other methods were used to keep track of spring equinox and such methods must have observed the gradual movement of equinox earlier and earlier in the year compared to the stars. It would have been known precisely when a given star was at spring equinox. Yet, common people would tend to keep Antares at autumn equinox. It would not be forgotten and the precessional changes could be accomodated by changing the time of the day for observation. The change of the date for spring equinox was in focus and it was possible to 'forget' the corresponding change in the date for autumn equinox. The Babylonians could hardly have had the same definition of heliacal rising as we are using: ... The original Arabic name, Al Hak'ah, a White Spot, was from the added faint light of the smaller φ¹and φ² in the background, and has descended to us as Heka and Hika. These three stars were another of the Athāfiyy [tripods used for cooking] of the Arabs; and everywhere in early astrology were thought, like all similar groups, to be of unfortunate influence in human affairs. They constituted the Euphratean lunar station Mas-tab-ba-tur-tur, the Little Twins, a title also found for γ and η Geminorum; and individually were important stars among the Babylonians, rising to them with the sun at the summer solstice, and, with α and γ, were known as Kakkab Sar, the Constellation of the King ... Heka was in rongorongo times rising heliacally - according to our definition - in June 12 (163). i.e. 9 days before summer solstice. For the Constellation of the King (Kakkab Sar) to have risen with the sun we must radically change the time of observation: According to our definition we can first anticipate a date for the summer solstice heliacal rising of Heka which lies ca 9 * 71 or 639 years ahead (compared to 1870). Then we should count the distance in years as 639 + 4260 = ca 4900. This corresponds to ca 4900 / 26000 * 24h = 4½ hours. Or to approximately 4900 / 26000 * 360 = 68 days (= the RA day for Aldebaran). Already the Babylonians had Orion at summer solstice, but it could have been due to their calendar, because their sky figure True Shepherd of Anu was walking - just like the Rain God in his 3rd station:
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