next page previous page table of contents home

Once again. Orion was exceptional in being visualized as a place far down and in the center:

Between Aldebaran (*68) and Castor (*113) was Orion, i.e. there were *113 - *68 = *45 right ascension days for Orion. 365 - 45 = 320 and significantly right ascension day *320 was the position of the South Pole, at Dramasa (σ Octantis). 8 * 40 + 45 = 365.

Probably the G text has Dramasa at Gb2-1:

1 DEC 2 (336 = 8 * 48)
CLOSE TO THE SUN:
Gb1-26 Gb2-1 (256 = 8 * 32)

21h (319.6)

ARMUS = η Capricorni (319.0), DORSUM = θ Capricorni (319.3), TSOO = 24 Capricorni (319.7)
DRAMASA = σ Oct., χ Capricorni (320.0), ν Aquarii (320.3), γ Equulei (320.6), ο Pavonis (320.8)
Febr 3 4 (400)
°Jan 30 (*315) 31 (396)
'Jan 7 (*292) 8 (373)
CHRISTMAS EVE (*278) "Dec 25 (359)
CLOSE TO THE FULL MOON:
JUNE 1 (152 = 115 + 37) 2

ν Cancri (136.0), TALITHA AUSTRALIS = κ Ursae Majoris (136.1), ω Hydrae (136.8)

9h (137.0)

σ¹ Ursa Majoris (137.0), κ Cancri (137.3), τ Cancri (137.4), ALSUHAIL (al Wazn, of the Weight) = λ Velorum (137.5), σ² Ursa Majoris (137.6), τ Ursa Majoris (137.7), ξ Cancri (137.8)

*96.0 = *137.4 - *41.4
Aug 4 (216) 5
°July 31 (212) °Aug 1
'July 8 9 (190)
ST JOHN'S DAY (175 = 350 / 2) "June 25
Ga3-13 (360 / 5) Ga3-14 (73)

Instead of turning the Royal Double Canoe upside down it was drawn up on Terra Firma and taken apart. This means it was daytime.

... After all the food supplies had been brought on land [i oti era te kai te too mai ki uta], the two rulers [te ariki arurua], the king and the queen said, 'Drag the canoes on land and take them apart (so the wood can be used) to build houses and cover the roofs!' They dragged the two canoes on land and took them apart. After they had finished disassembling the canoes, Nuku covered all the houses ... (E:84)

Then followed the episode with locating Hanau Eepe high up on the Poike (Place Aloft) peninsula in the northeast. In contrast to the position of Orion far down they were placed high up and presuambly with Ko te Umu o te Hanau Eepe as a border line:

... Hotu said to Teke, 'Look around for a suitable area (maara) to settle the Hanau Eepe and let them work the fields!' Teke took command of the Hanau Eepe and went with them to Poike. After he had settled them there, Teke said to the Hanau Eepe, 'Settle her, work, and keep peace among yourselves (he mee o mahamaha kina); let this be the goal of every one of you!' Then Teke assumed royal powers (pahera ariki) and passed them on to Iko. Teke installed the king; Iko was (now) the king (ariki) of the Hanau Eepe. Teke called out to the men, 'Iko is your king, oh people (mahingo)!' The Hanu Eepe remained there. Teke returned. (He) came to Oromanga (name corrected; alternative translation: Along came the adopted rat, kiore ma(a)nga.). That was Iko. Twenty-five years. (E:85)

Possibly the glyph preceding that of Aldebaran was intended to illustrate the curved hull of a canoe.

MARCH 24 25 (Julian equinox) 26 (85) 27 (*6)
Ga1-3 Ga1-4 Ga1-5 Ga1-6
no star listed (67)

Rohini-4 (The Red One) / Pidnu-sha-Shame-4 (Furrow of Heaven) / ANA-MURI-2 (Rear pillar - at the foot of which was the place for tattooing)

ALDEBARAN = α Tauri (68.2), THEEMIN = υ² Eridani (68.5)
no star listed (69) no star listed (70)
May 27 28 (148) 29 30 (*70)
°May 23 24 (144) 25 (*65) 26
'April 30 'May 1 (121) 2 (*42) 3
16 (471 = 314 * 1½) "April 17 (107) 18 19 (*29)

But half a year later there is no such sign - possibly because here the canoe was taken apart:

SEPT 20 (*183) 21 EQUINOX 23 (266) 24 25
Ga7-14 Ga7-15 Ga7-16 Ga7-17 (186) Ga7-18 (103 + 84) Ga7-19

Heart-5 (Fox)

σ Scorpii (247.0), HEJIAN = γ Herculis (247.2), ψ Ophiuchi (247.7)
ρ Ophiuchi (248.1), KAJAM (Club) = ω Herculis (248.3), χ Ophiuchi (248.5), SHE LOW (Market Tower) = υ Ophiuchi, Tr. Austr. (248.7), ζ Tr. Austr. (248.8)

Al Kalb-16 (The Heart) / Jyeshtha-18 (Eldest) / ANA-MUA-1 (Entrance pillar)

ANTARES = α Scorpii (249.1), MARFIK (Elbow)  = λ Ophiuchi, φ Ophiuchi (249.5),  ω Ophiuchi (249.8)
γ Apodis (250.1), σ Herculis (250.3), θ Tr. Austr. (250.6), τ Scorpii (250.7) HAN = ζ Ophiuchi (251.0) ζ Herculis, η Tr. Austr. (252.1), η Herculis, β Apodis (252.5)
JULY 2 (183) 83 SEPT 24 (267)

11h (167.4)

χ Leonis, χ¹ Hydrae (167.1), χ² Hydrae (167.3)

*167.4 - *41.4 = *126.0
HAN = ζ Ophiuchi (251.0)
Nov 23 (327) 24 25 26 (*250) 27 28
°Nov 19 20 (324) 21 22 (*246) 23 24
'Oct 27 (300) 28 29 (*222) 30 31 'Nov 1
"Oct 13 14 Tagaroa Uri 15 16 17 (290) 18

SIRIUS

Alkes (JUNE 30)

*165 = ☼161

 Rangi Meamea

JULY 4 (101)

AUG 16 (144)

SEPT 22 (181)

 

24

 

OCT 17 (290)

Zosma / Coxa

*169 = ☼165

Thuban

*212 = ☼208

Antares

*249 = ☼245

ο Herculis
ξ Orionis

Sept 6 (249)

Oct 19 (292)

Nov 25 (245 + 108)

Dec 20 (354)

84

Canoe dis-mantled

To avoid the danger of being taken apart the last 25 days before the solstice could have motivated electing another king, an Interrex.

... The manner of his death can be reconstructed from a variety of legends, folk-customs and other religious survivals. At mid-summer, at the end of a half-year reign, Hercules is made drunk with mead and led into the middle of a circle of twelve stones arranged around an oak, in front of which stands an altar-stone; the oak has been lopped until it is T-shaped. He is bound to it with willow thongs in the 'five-fold bond' which joins wrists, neck, and ankles together, beaten by his comrades till he faints, then flayed, blinded, castrated, impaled with a mistletoe stake, and finally hacked into joints on the altar-stone. His blood is caught in a basin and used for sprinkling the whole tribe to make them vigorous and fruitful. The joints are roasted at twin fires of oak-loppings, kindled with sacred fire preserved from a lightning-blasted oak or made by twirling an alder- or cornel-wood fire-drill in an oak log. The trunk is then uprooted and split into faggots which are added to the flames. The twelve merry-men rush in a wild figure-of-eight dance around the fires, singing ecstatically and tearing at the flesh with their teeth. The bloody remains are burnt in the fire, all except the genitals and the head. These are put into an alder-wood boat and floated down the river to an islet; though the head is sometimes cured with smoke and preserved for oracular use. His tanist succeeds him and reigns for the remainder of the year, when he is sacrificially killed by a new Hercules ...

... The 'classic' version, however, was much more detailed: the rope would seem to rise high into the skies, disappearing from view. The boy would climb the rope and be lost to view. The magician would call back his boy assistant, and, on getting no response, become furious. The magician then armed himself with a knife or sword and climbed the rope, vanishing too. An argument would be heard, and then limbs would start falling, presumably cut from the assistant by the magician. When all the parts of the body, including the torso, landed on the ground, the magician would climb down the rope. He would collect the limbs and put them in a basket, or collect the limbs in one place and cover them with a cape or blanket. Soon the boy would appear, restored ...

... They go inland at the land. The child nursed and tended grows up, is able to go and play. Each day he now goes off a bit further away, moving some distance away from the house, and then returns to their house. So it goes on and the child is fully grown and goes to play far away from the place where they live. He goes over to where some work is being done by a father and son. Likāvaka is the name of the father - a canoe-builder, while his son is Kiukava. Taetagaloa goes right over there and steps forward to the stern of the canoe saying - his words are these: 'The canoe is crooked.' (kalo ki ama). Instantly Likāvaka is enraged at the words of the child. Likāvaka says: 'Who the hell are you to come and tell me that the canoe is crooked?' Taetagaloa replies: 'Come and stand over here and see that the canoe is crooked.' Likāvaka goes over and stands right at the place Taetagaloa told him to at the stern of the canoe. Looking forward, Taetagaloa is right, the canoe is crooked. He slices through all the lashings of the canoe to straighten the timbers. He realigns the timbers. First he must again position the supports, then place the timbers correctly in them, but Kuikava the son of Likāvaka goes over and stands upon one support. His father Likāvaka rushes right over and strikes his son Kuikava with his adze. Thus Kuikava dies. Taetagaloa goes over at once and brings the son of Likāvaka, Kuikava, back to life. Then he again aligns the supports correctly and helps Likāvaka in building the canoe. Working working it is finished ...

... Sorrowing, then, the two women placed Osiris's coffer on a boat, and when the goddess Isis was alone with it at sea, she opened the chest and, laying her face on the face of her brother, kissed him and wept. The myth goes on to tell of the blessed boat's arrival in the marshes of the Delta, and of how Set, one night hunting the boar by the light of the full moon, discovered the sarcophagus and tore the body into fourteen pieces, which he scattered abroad; so that, once again, the goddess had a difficult task before her. She was assisted, this time, however, by her little son Horus, who had the head of a hawk, by the son of her sister Nephtys, little Anubis, who had the head of a jackal, and by Nephtys herself, the sister-bride of their wicked brother Set. Anubis, the elder of the two boys, had been conceived one very dark night, we are told, when Osiris mistook Nephtys for Isis; so that by some it is argued that the malice of Set must have been inspired not by the public virtue and good name of the noble culture hero, but by this domestic inadventure. The younger, but true son, Horus, on the other hand, had been more fortunately conceived - according to some, when Isis lay upon her dead brother in the boat, or, according to others, as she fluttered about the palace pillar in the form of a bird. The four bereaved and searching divinities, the two mothers and their two sons, were joined by a fifth, the moon-god Thoth (who appears sometimes in the form of an ibis-headed scribe, at other times in the form of a baboon), and together they found all of Osiris save his genital member, which had been swallowed by a fish. They tightly swathed the broken body in linen bandages, and when they performed over it the rites that thereafter were to be continued in Egypt in the ceremonial burial of kings, Isis fanned the corpse with her wings and Osiris revived, to become the ruler of the dead. He now sits majestically in the underworld, in the Hall of the Two Truths, assisted by forty-two [42] assessors, one from each of the principal districts of Egypt; and there he judges the souls of the dead. These confess before him, and when their hearts have been weighed in a balance against a feather, receive, according to their lives, the reward of virtue and the punishment of sin ...