Poole, Reginald S.: Horae Aegypticae: or, the chronology of ancient Egypt: discovered from astronomical and hieroglyphic records upon its monuments, including many dates found in coeval inscriptions from the period of the building of the Great Pyramid to the times of the Persians ; and illustrations of the history of the first nineteen dynasties, shewing the order of their succession, from the monuments (London, 1851)

SECTION II.
THE TROPICAL CYCLE.

One of the most interesting of the monuments of
ancient Egypt is the great temple erected by Ra-
meses II., the second King of the Nineteenth Dynasty,

according to Manetho's division, on the western side
of the Nile, at Thebes. It is commonly called " the
Memnonium;" but this is an inappropriate appellation,
and I prefer calling it " the Rameseum of El-Kurneh."
" Rameseum" is the proper name of every building
erected by a Rameses; and "El-Kurneh" is the modern
name of the district in which the temple stands.
Among the sculptures of this edifice is one which has
deservedly been regarded by the learned as of very
great importance. I allude to the famous astronomical
ceiling of one of its apartments*. This has been
shown to be a record of great value, as affording us
means of judging of the astronomical knowledge of the
ancient Egyptians at the early period at which it was
sculptured, and as indicating, approximatively, the time

* See Plate II.