180 ZODIAC OF DENDERAH. huge blocks of sandstone, you come in sight of a temple, which forms the back ground of this splendid picture. All that you see here, say the French writers, from the colossal figures of Isis, which support the entablature of the vestibule, to the smallest hieroglyphic, appears to have come from fairy land. Neither Greece nor Rome, nor the rest of Europe, has produced any thing similar. So universal was this impression, that the meanest soldiers of the army paused to examine these sacred relics, and declared with one voice, that this sight alone was enough to indemnify them for the fatigues of the campaign. The monuments of Thebes, with which they afterward became acquainted, could not efface this first impression; and the magnificent temple of Isis still appeared to them the most perfect monument of Egyptian art. Of the ancient Tentyrah, which may have existed in the times of Strabo and Theodosius, a Typhæum, similar to that of Edfuh, but larger, is yet standing. It is west of the northern gate, so buried under rubbish that the different sides are scarcely to be distinguished. But the admiration of the French was chiefly excited by the great temple, the whole of which is nearly in the shape of a T. The view is obstructed by ruins only on the eastern side. On account of the figures of Isis, of every size, which it contains, it is thought to have been an Isæum. Without the aid of drawings, any description of its vestibules, halls and cells, which are all covered with hieroglyphics, would be unintelligible. On the ceiling of the portico of this Isaum, astronomical figures and emblems were found nailed on the soffits: on the two extreme soffits were the 12 signs of the zodiac. This representation was repeated on the ceiling of an apartment in the upper story, on the left side of the vestibule. Like the others, this room was covered with hieroglyphics, and the planisphere, on the left side as you enter, occupied only half of the ceiling. It was first observed by general Desaix, who directed the attention of his companions to it. This is the planisphere of which so much has been written. Behind this large building, towards the south, is another temple, which was, perhaps, dedicated to Isis and Horus. Its exterior reminds us less forcibly than the Isaum, how many generations must have existed, before a nation could flourish possessed of sufficient courage, knowledge and elevation of mind for the invention of such works; and how many centuries must have elapsed, before all this could have been forgotten, and men have sunk back to the rudeness of the present Arab inhabitants of these ruins. But the figures on the planispheres particularly attracted the attention of the learned Europeans, on account of their supposed connexion with the precession of the equinoxes. (See Precession.) In both, it was observed that the lion was represented as the first sign. This order it was supposed must have been adopted by design; for in the larger planisphere, on the ceiling of the portico, the signs are represented on two stripes, one of which runs in a direction toward the interior of the temple, the other toward the exterior; on the smaller (that of the upper apartment, now in Paris), the signs are represented in a spiral line, in the order in which we now place them: Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer. Leo appeared, consequently, to be placed, intentionally, after the point of intersection of the ecliptic and equator. On the situation of those points of intersection, however, depends the place of the solstice, which must be half way between them. In the planisphere of Denderah, it is drawn in Cancer. If this is the winter solstice, as some suppose, the vernal equinox was then in Libra. At present, however, it is in Pisces, and consequently 7 signs, or 210°, farther back. As it is known that 2152 years of uniform motion are necessary for the recession of one sign, it follows that, to recede from Libra to Pisces, 7 times 2152, or about 15,000 years are necessary. This would be, accordingly, the minimum of the age of this zodiac, if we suppose that it is founded on real astronomical observations, and is not to be considered a mere astronomical problem. (See Rhode, Versuch über das Alter des Thierkreises und den Ursprung der Sternbilder, Berlin, 1809, 4to.) Other astronomers, in particular Littrow (Wiener Zeitschrift, 1822, No. 53, 54), and, yet earlier, the authors of the great description of Egypt, thought the solstice on the zodiac of Tentyra to be the summer solstice. The vernal equinox would then fall between Taurus and Aries, consequently 45° farther forward than at present. From this it would follow, that the zodiac would be as old as 45 times 713 years, or 3228 years. This last supposition would be justified if the constellation which is the first in the zodiac were that which the sun must enter first after the heliacal rise of Sirius. There are many reasons which induce us to believe this. The appear ZODIAC OF DENDERAH. ance of Sirius followed a few days after the summer solstice: it was a sign of the rising of the Nile, and of the beginning of the agricultural year in Egypt. This reference to the beginning of the agricultural year adds great force to this supposition. The accompanying hieroglyphics, as the child on the lotus flower near Aries, the rising sun, the point of the vernal equinox, are additional arguments. Considerations drawn from astronomy and the progress of the arts, induced E. G. Visconti to believe this planisphere and the whole temple, which undoubtedly were executed at the same time, to be of a far more recent origin. He assigned this building to the time when the uncertain Thoth, the commencement of the uncertain Egyptian year, coincided with the sign of Leo, which was the case from the year 12 to the year 132 of our era. (See Notice sommaire des deux Zodiaques de Tentyra, in the 2d volume of Larcher's Herodote, page 567 et seq.) To this date, belonging to the first years of the Roman dominion, the authors of the great description of Egypt have opposed strong reasons. In case this hypothesis should not be approved, Visconti had another ready. Proceeding on the theory of De la Nauze, who took an Egyptian Normal year as the basis of his calculation, he assigned these monuments to the period of the Ptolemies. A single Greek inscription, in an obscure place in the Isaeum, was not a very conclusive argument in favor of this hypothesis, which, besides, is exposed to strong objections, if we compare the architecture of these buildings with other monuments of that period. They are executed in so pure an Egyptian style, that they exclude every idea of foreign influence hostile to the religion of the country. No one, therefore, can think of ascribing them to the old enemies of the Egyptian worship, the Persians, those destroyers of temples. There is, then, no alternative but to refer their origin to a period when the country was under its native kings. Putting out of view the astronomical representations, the authors of the description of Egypt are inclined to assign the building of the temple, whose execution harmonizes so accurately with the original plan as to be evidently the creation of the same time, to that period when the Egyptian art appears to have reached its highest perfection, the period between Necho and Amasis, when magnificent edifices were erected in the Delta, and Memphis was in its splendor. The dispute concerning the antiquity of this monument is not yet fin16 VOL. IV. 181 ished, and was by no means brought nearer to a decision by mutilating the whole, and carrying a piece of it to Europe. Preconceived opinions have affected the discussion of this subject. Thus an essay of Dupuy on this zodiac was suppressed by the police of Paris, as tending to promote infidelity (August, 1822). A young Frenchman, S. Saulnier, whose ambition was excited by the rich spoils carried off by the English, conceived the idea of procuring this zodiac for his native country. As he was prevented from going to Egypt personally, he left the transportation of it to his friend H. Lelorrain, who embarked, in 1820, for Alexandria, provided with the necessary instruments. Mohammed Ali showed a deplorable readiness to permit the sacred monuments of Tentyra to be mutilated. Upon the roof of the temple Arabians had, in earlier times, fixed their abodes; it was necessary to remove their deserted huts; and their rubbish, together with that already accumulated, formed a plane upon which the blocks of sandstone could slide down to the banks of the Nile. A vehicle of the invention of M. Lelorrain was used for this purpose. Lelorrain selected the small circular zodiac in the upper apartment. As the whole stone on which the zodiac was represented was too large to be carried off, extending, as it did, the whole width of the ceiling, and resting on the walls on each side, M. Lelorrain contented himself with the portion covered by the zodiac, a small part of which, projecting over the main stone, and contained on a contiguous one, he left, not thinking it worth the trouble of removing. The removal was effected by means of chisels, saws and gunpowder. The stone was exceedingly well preserved, only blackened by soot, perhaps of the time when the mysteries and the worship of animals were solemnized in these sanctuaries. This smoke may also have destroyed the colors by which, it is probable, the hieroglyphics were formerly distinguished. The stone is of the same kind of sand-stone of which all the monuments between Phyla and Denderah are composed. Scarcely was this work of destruction finished, when another explorer, Mr. Salt, the English consul, laid claims to the booty, asserting prior rights to every thing dug up at Tentyra. The bashaw of Egypt decided for the Frenchman, because the zodiac was taken from the roof. lorrain at length arrived safe with his booty at Marseilles. Here a comparison with the plates in the great work on Le 182 ZODIAC OF DENDERAH-DENINA. Egypt showed that every thing was in its right place, but that the drawing had been embellished in a way which was not confirmed by the monument. In January, 1822, he arrived at Paris, where the proprietors caused a drawing to be taken by Gau, containing all the discernible figures. The French government purchased the planisphere for 150,000 francs. The disputes relative to the epoch of its origin were renewed with fresh ardor. St. Martin, in his Notice sur le Zodiaque de Denderah, etc., maintains that the monument was erected as early as 569, and not earlier than 900 B. C.; but his opinion is not satisfactorily proved; nor is that of Mr. Biot, which Jomard has controverted in the Rev. Encycl. (1822). On the other hand, Letronne, in his Critical and Archæological Observations on the Signs of the Zodiac (Paris, 1823), maintains that there is no monument among the signs of the Egyptian, Greek and Roman zodiacs older than the common era. With this opinion agrees also that of the abbé Halma, in his Examen et Explication du Zodiaque de Denderah, etc. (3 vols., Paris, 1822, with copper-plates). Letronne considers the zodiacs of Esné and Denderah as astrological curiosities of the times of the Roman emperors. The weight of opinion at present is, that these figures are inscriptions of about the same antiquity as the Christian era. DENDRITES, OF ARBORIZATIONS; an appellation given to figures of vegetables observed in fossil substances, and which are of two kinds, the one superficial, the other internal. The first are chiefly found on the surface of stones, and between the strata and the fissures of those of a calcareous nature. They are mostly brown, changing gradually to reddish-yellow. The internal dendrites are of a deep black. The most esteemed sorts are those found in agates, and particularly in the sardonyx, cornelian, and other precious stones brought from the East, and which are commonly denominated Moka stones. DENGUE FEVER. (See Fever.) DENHAM, Dixon, lieutenant-colonel, well known by his expedition into Central Africa, was born at London, in 1786, and, after finishing his studies at school, was placed with a solicitor, but, in 1811, entered the army as a volunteer, and served in the peninsular campaigns. After the general peace, he was reduced to half pay on the peace establishment, and, in 1819, was admitted into the senior department of the royal military college at Farnham. In 1823-4, he was engaged, in com pany with captain Clapperton and doctor Oudney, in exploring the central regions of Africa. (For an account of their expe ditions, see Clapperton.) His courage, ad dress, firmness, perseverance and moderation, his bold, frank, energetic disposition, and his conciliating manners, peculiarly fitted him for such an undertaking. The narrative of the discoveries of the travellers was prepared by Denham. In 1826, he went to Sierra Leone, as superintendent of the liberated Africans, and, in 1828, was appointed lieutenant-governor of the colony; but, on the 9th of June of the same year, he died of a fever, after an illness of a few days. DENHAM, Sir John, a poet, was born at Dublin, in 1615, the son of sir John Denham, chief baron of the exchequer in Ireland. He was educated in London and at Oxford. Although dissipated and irregular at the university, he passed his examination for a bachelor's degree, and then removed to Lincoln's Inn to study law. In 1641, he first became known by his tragedy of the Sophy. This piece was so much admired, that Waller observed, "Denham had broken out like the Irish rebellion, 60,000 strong, when no person suspected it." At the commencement of the civil war, he received a military command; but, not liking a soldier's life, he gave it up, and attended the court at Oxford, where, in 1643, he published the first edition of his most celebrated poem, called Cooper's Hill. He was subsequently intrusted with several confidential commissions by the king's party, one of which was to collect pecuniary aid from the Scottish residents in Poland. He returned to England in 1552; but how he employed himself until the restoration, does not appear. Upon that event, he obtained the office of surveyor of the king's buildings, and was created a knight of the Bath, and a fellow of the newly-formed royal society. A second marriage, at an advanced age, caused him much disquiet, and a temporary derangement; but he recovered, and retained the esteem of the lettered and the courtly until his death, in 1688, when his remains were interred in Westminster abbey. DENINA, Giacomo Carlo, a historian, born in 1731, at Revel, in Piedmont, studied belles-lettres at Turin, and received the professorship of humanity at the royal school at Pignerol. When the chair of rhetoric at the superior college of Turin was vacant, Denina was made professor in the college and university. He now pub shed the three first volumes of his History of the Italian Revolutions (Turin, DENINA-DENMARK. 1769, 3 vols., quarto), containing a general history of Italy, which subjected him to some inconveniences, by exciting the ill will of the defenders of the privileges of the clergy. In 1777, he travelled, on account of his health, to Rome, made a stay at Florence, received an invitation to Prussia, went to Berlin in September, 1782, was presented to the king by the marquis Lucchesini, and appointed a member of the academy, with a salary of 1200 Prussian dollars. He had several conversations with Frederic the Great, an account of whose life and reign he afterwards wrote. He also published La Prusse littéraire sous Frederic II (3 volumes). In 1791, he made a journey to Piedmont, and published, on his return to Berlin, the Guide littéraire. As early as 1760, his Discorso sopra le Vicende della Litteratura appeared in Berlin. It is a valuable contribution to the history of literature, and has been translated into German and French. Most of his works were written at Berlin; as, for instance, his History of Piedmont and of the other Sardinian States; Political and Literary History of Greece; and Letters from Brandenburg. After the battle of Marengo, the council of administration appointed him librarian at the university of Turin. Before he entered upon this office, he wrote his Clef des Langues, ou Observations, etc., which he dedicated to the first consul. He received, in return, an honorable letter and a gold snuff-box, through Duroc. This favor was followed by the offer of the place of librarian to the emperor, upon which he repaired to Paris. In 1805 appeared his Historico-statistical Picture of Upper Italy. He died in 1813. 183 The interior of the church was enriched with pious offerings and works of art. In the large vaults under the choir reposed the remains of several kings of the first and second races, and all the rulers of the third race, from Hugh Capet to Louis XVI. At present, the heads of all the saints and kings at the entrance are wanting, and the vaults are vacant, all the bodies having been removed during the revolution. Oct. 16, 1793, at the time when the queen was beheaded in Paris, the coffin of Louis XV was taken out of the vaults of St. Denis, and, after a stormy debate, it was decided to throw the remains of all the kings, even those of Henry IV and Louis XIV, which were yet, in a good degree, preserved entire, and recognised with perfect certainty, into a pit, to melt down their leaden coffins on the spot, and to take away and melt into bullets whatever lead there was besides in the church (the whole roof, for example). Napoleon's decree of the 20th February, 1806, made St. Denis again the burial-place of the reigning family of France; the church was repaired and ornamented, and marked with the emblems of the new dynasty, particularly the large N. Napoleon had selected a vaulted room for the tomb of himself and his consort. Louis XVIII obliterated from St. Denis all traces of Napoleon's rule, buried whatever bones of his ancestors could be found, especially the relics of Louis XVI and his family, in the ancient sepulchre of the kings, and instituted canons, whose duty it is to protect the tombs within. These canons of St. Denis are the most distinguished in France, and form a convent, the abbot of which is a bishop. DENIZEN. In England, a denizen is an alien born, who has obtained letters patent whereby he is constituted an English subject. A denizen is in a middle state between an alien and a natural born or naturalized subject, partaking of the nature of both. He may take lands by purchase, or derive a title by descent through his parents or any ancestor, though they be aliens. DENIS OF DENYS, ST., ABBEY OF; a church celebrated in history. The saint (Dionysius) to whom it is consecrated, having been sent from Rome into Gaul to preach the gospel, died by the hand of the public executioner, about the end of the 3d century. Catulla, a heathen lady, affected by the martyr's constancy, obtained his body, which had been thrown into the Seine, buried it in her garden, became a DENMARK; the smallest of the northern Christian, and erected a small chapel over European kingdoms. The oldest inhabhis tomb, which was afterwards rebuilt on itants of Denmark were Germans, brave a more extensive plan, by St. Genevieve, and spirited men, who gained their supand became, in the 6th century, one of the port from the sea. The Cimbri, who most flourishing abbeys. This large edi- derived their origin from them, dwelt in fice is still standing, a noble structure, the the peninsula of Jutland, the Chersonesus oldest Christian church in France. On Cimbrica of the Romans. They first the left was the principal entrance, a large struck terror into the Romans by their indoor with two small doors at the sides, cursion, with the Teutones, into the rich ornamented with statues of the ancient provinces of Gaul. After this, led by the saints and French kings, carved in stone. mysterious Odin, the Goths broke into Scandinavia, and appointed chiefs from their own nation over Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Skiold is said to have been the first ruler of Denmark. His history, however, and that of his posterity, is involved in fable. All we know with certainty is, that Denmark was divided, at this time, into many small states, that the inhabitants gained their subsistence by piracy, and spread terror through every sea, and along every coast to which they came. When the power of the Romans began to decline, the Danes and Normans became conspicuous in the South by their incursions upon the shores, which were formerly protected by the guard-ships of the Romans. The Normans (comprehending the people of Denmark, Sweden and Norway) landed in England A. D. 832, and established there two kingdoms. Under Rollo, in 911, they made a descent on the French coasts in Normandy, occupied the Faroe isles, the Orcades, the Shetland isles, Iceland, and a part of Ireland, and thence proceeded to Spain, Italy and Sicily. Wherever they came, they spread terror by their valor, ferocity and rapacity. These expeditions made little change in their national government: it still continued a federative system of many clans or tribes, each of which had its own head, and all were united under one sovereign. When the German kings of the Carlovingian race attempted to interfere with their domestic affairs, the tribes entered into a closer union, and the Norwegians and Danes formed two separate states. Gorm the Old first subdued Jutland, in 863, and united all the small Danish states under his sceptre till 920. His grandson Sweyn, a warlike prince, subdued a part of Norway in 1000, and England in 1014. His son Canute, in 1016, not only completed the conquest of England, but also subdued a part of Scotland, and, in 1030, all Norway. Under him the power of Denmark reached its highest pitch. Political motives led him to embrace the Christian religion, and to introduce it into Denmark; upon which a great change took place in the character of the people. Canute died in 1036, and left a powerful kingdom to his successors, who, in 1042, lost England, and, in 1047, Norway. The Danish kingdom was, after this, very much weakened by intestine broils. Sweyn Magnus Estritson ascended the throne in 1047, and established a new dynasty; but the feudal system, introduced by the wars of Sweyn and Canute, robbed the kingdom of all its strength under this dynasty, which furnished not a single worthy prince except the great Waldemar, left the princes dependent on the choice of the bishops and nobility, plunged the peasants into bondage, caused the decay of agriculture, and abandoned commerce to the Hanse towns of Germany. With Waldemar III, in 1376, the male line of the family of Estritson became extinct. His politic daughter Margaret, after the death of her son Olave IV, A. D. 1387, took the helm of the Danish government, ascended the throne of Sweden and Norway, and established the union of Calmar (q. v.), in 1397. After the extinction of the princes of the family of Skiold, the Danes elected Christian Ï, count of Oldenburg, to succeed him, in 1448. This Christian was the founder of the royal Danish family, which has, ever since, kept possession of the throne, and from which, in modern times, Russia, Sweden and Oldenburg have received their rulers. He connected Norway, Sleswic and Holstein with the crown of Denmark, but was so fettered by his capitulations, that he seemed to be rather the head of the royal council than a sovereign king. His son, king John, was bound by a still more strict capitulation, in Denmark, 1481. In Norway, too, his power was more circumscribed. Holstein and Sleswic he shared with Frederic, his brother. King Christian II (q. v.), son of John, a wicked and cruel, but by no means weak, prince, attempted to throw off his dependence on the states; but, in doing it, he lost Sweden, which broke the union of Calmar in 1523; and, soon after, he was deprived of both his other crowns. Denmark and Norway elevated his father's brother, Frederic I, to the throne. Under this prince, the aristocracy gained the entire superiority; bondage was established by law; the reformation was introduced; and, in 1522, Norway was united with Denmark. Christian III, his eldest son, divided Sleswic and Holstein with his brothers, John and Adolphus, the latter of whom founded the house of HolsteinGottorp; but this division was the ground of long and bitter disputes. He was succeeded, in 1559, by king Frederic II, who conquered the Ditmars, and became involved in a war with Sweden respecting the possession of Livonia. This war was concluded by the peace of Stettin, 1570. Christian IV, who succeeded in 1588, took part in the thirty years' war, and twice engaged in a war with Sweden; the last time with such unhappy consequences, that, by the peace of Brömsebro, in 1645, Denmark had to cede to Sweden Jämptland, Herjedalen beyond the mountains, |