1 - The Cult of Horus and the Origins of Astronomy Nr. 1

1 - The Origin of the Cult of Horus in Predynastic Egypt

by Andis Kaulins [1][,2]

I. Introduction: The Extern Stones (Externsteine) and the
Falcon Stone (Falkenstein)

"Star Stones: Representations of Prehistoric Astronomy in the Extern Stones" was a paper I presented on May 6, 2005 in Horn/Bad Meinberg, Germany, near the location of the Extern Stones, to the 39th annual meeting of the Walther Machalett Study Group on Ancient History. That paper developed a hypothesis which I first published in the book Stars Stones and Scholars,[3] claiming that the Extern Stones had been worked by human hand in the Neolithic period (New Stone Age) and that the figures in relief on the stones represented the stars of the heavens, marking also the solstices and equinoxes in approximately 3000 B.C.

Others have seen faces carved in relief on the Extern Stones long before my recognition of them.[4] However, no one has known what meaning to attach to these sculptures. My interpretation of these reliefs showed that they were ancient "humanized" representations of stellar asterisms and constellations, which were seen as astronomical "gods" by the ancients.

I also interpreted the "Falcon Stone" (Falkenstein), Rock 11 of the Extern Stones, as depicting stars of the heavens. These stars were: 1) the stars of the constellation Draco, represented by a lizard, marking the pole of the ecliptic; and, 2) the stars Kochab and Pherkad of Ursa Minor as "guards of the heavens", marking the pole star as a falcon (the Egyptian "Horus").

It is interesting to observe that the figure of a lizard (or dragon, or crocodile) on the Falcon Stone (Rock 11, Extern Stones) had already been identified by Walther Machalett previous to my independent recognition of it. This circumstance of a match of independent observations by two persons (reproducibility, as it were) gave me the feeling that my identifications of the other figures on the Falcon Stone were also correct.


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[1] J.D. (Doctor of Jurisprudence), Stanford University, USA; Former Lecturer, FFA, Anglo-American Law, University of Trier Law School, University of Trier.
[2] The author would like to thank Dr.jur. Gert Meier (Law, Government, History and Modern Languages, University of Göttingen; former NATO Scholar at Stanford University) for important contributions to the content of this manuscript.
[3] Andis Kaulins, Stars Stones and Scholars: The Decipherment of the Megaliths as an Ancient Survey of the Earth by Astronomy, Trafford Publishing, Canada, USA and Ireland, 2003.
[4] See Elisabeth Neumann-Gundrum, Europas Kultur der Groß-Skulpturen, Schmitz-Verlag, Giessen, 1981, and Walter Machalett, Die Externsteine, Hallonen-Verlag, Maschen, 1970.