Alacahoyuk
The gate with the sphinxes in Alacahöyük seems to be related to the apparition of Comet Halley in the year 2423 BC when Comet Halley had its perihelion passage on September 17. Although the South gate might be of more recent date by looking at the map of Alacahöyük it can be noticed that this gate has been constructed parallel to older constructions.
The Sphinxes are without doubt related to the ancient secret that, on every third return of Comet Halley, planet Jupiter can be found in the constellation of Leo which was the case in the year 2423 BC. This fact can easily be checked for a table of perihelion passages of Comet Halley between 1986 AD and 2647 BC does exist and has been published in 1982 by Joseph L. Brady.
The reason why I believe that the South gate is related to this particular year is because of the direction of axe of the South gate. It seems to have an azimuth of about 117°/118° while the position of Jupiter in Leo at sunrise is about 115°. About 9 minutes later, Jupiter still visible, it reaches the 118° position with an altitude of about 62°.
On this particular day, which marks a very special event, planet Mars is also in the constellation of Leo, close to Leo's brightest star Regulus. I can imagine that Mars has been used as a time marker, fixing the exact moment and direction of the axe of the
The apparition of Comet Halley might have been expected and can be predicted with the knowledge on the cycle of Jupiter. It takes Jupiter 11.86 years; say 12 years, to orbit the sun. So when Jupiter is in Leo in the year 2423 BC it will also be in Leo, twelve years later, in 2411 BC. After 19 cycles of Jupiter 19*11.86= 225.34 years Comet Halley returns for 225.34 equals about 3*75 years. According to the table of perihelion passages of Comet Halley composed by Joseph L. Brady and to my research on the position of the known planets during each apparition, the relation between Jupiter, Leo and Comet Halley ended in 164 BC. On Comet Halley's return Jupiter could be found in Capricornus. After at least almost 2500 years, for the oldest date on the timetable of Brady is 2647 BC, the prediction failed.
Besides the relation between Jupiter, Leo and Comet Halley there is a second astronomical event that seems to have been known by ancient astronomers and priests. On each return of Comet Halley, within the time span of one year, the more or less parallel heliacal rising of two planets can be noticed often close to each other or even in occultation: Jupiter and Venus, male and female.
In the case of the 2434 BC apparition of Comet Halley these to planets rose heliacally and parallel, as two bright eyes, just before sunrise in the west on June 16. It might be expected that these two bright 'warning' eyes do have had a significant meaning in ancient religion for symbolism of 'warning eyes' are also known from pyramidions in the 5th dynasty in Egypt (Abusir) that point to the same event.
This brings us to the question which civilization might have held responsible for the knowledge on construction on the Giza Sphinx, to my opinion related to the apparition of Comet Halley in 2572 BC (perihelion passage on June 25). It is a well-known fact that no sphinxes have been found older than the Giza Sphinx. The Giza Sphinx is certainly related to the return of Comet Halley for two reasons.
The first reason is that on the so-called dreamstele in front of the Sphinx close examination reveals the head of a Bull on the chest of the Sphinx indicating that the Sphinx can be related to Bullworship (Apis). The horned bull seems to have been a strong and important metaphor for Comet Halley.
The second reason is that the Sphinx has been called 'Abu Hôl' or 'Father of Terror' by the Arabs. Because of the image of comets being predictors of the death of kings and causing disasters, this name might be related to Comet Halley. Indeed in 1066 AD, when Comet Halley could be seen in Europe also,
The Alacahöyük Sphinxes and the Giza Sphinx seem to express the same idea. They wait for the return of Comet Halley, the horned bull and, what I believe was the physical manifestation of the soul (Kha/Ka/Khu) of The King of Heaven.
