The untold story of the old Egyptian cosmology – Part 2

This is the continuation of the article “The Untold Story of the Old Egyptian Cosmology

The Year 6260:: Cosmology and Ancient Egyptian Calendar.!

The Egyptians were likely the primary to embrace a basically sun based calendar. They famous that the Dog Star, Sirius, returned within the eastern sky fair some time recently dawn after a few months of imperceptibility. They moreover watched that the yearly flooding of the Nile Stream came before long after Sirius returned. They utilized this combination of occasions to settle their calendar and came to recognize a year of 365 days, made up of 12 months each 30 days long, and an additional five days included at the conclusion. But they did not permit for the additional fourth of a day, and their calendar floated into mistake. Concurring to the renowned worldwide Egyptologist J. H. Breasted, the most punctual date known within the Egyptian calendar compares to 4242 B.C. in terms of the Gregorian calendar.

Anyhow, According to the Ancient Egyptian Calendar, We are now in the Year 6260, 4th month Ka-Hr-Ka.

The correct beginning of the old Egyptian calendar is obscure, but it is assessed to have begun around 5,000 a long time back. The antiquated Egyptians utilized a lunar calendar solely until they embraced their sun powered calendar. The lunar calendar was at that point utilized for their devout celebrations and ceremonies, but for their every day lives, the old Egyptians utilized a sun oriented calendar which contained 365 days per year. Each year was comprised of three, four-month seasons, which were named after critical occasions related to their agrarian way of life. Times of the Egyptian Calendar

The Egyptian calendar was broken down as takes after:

  • One week was ten days
  • Three weeks was one month
  • Four months was one season
  • Three seasons and five sacred days was one year
Delineation of an Egyptian hieroglyphic calendar

 

The to begin with season was called Akhet, which implies surge or immersion, and included the months of Tekh, Menhet, Hwt-Hrw, and Ka-Hr-Ka. The second season was called Proyet, which implies rise, and its months were Sf-Bdt, Redh Wer, Redh Neds, and Renwet • Three seasons and five sacred days was one year.

The third season was called Shomu, which means low water, and the names of its months were Hnsw, Hnt-Htj, Ipt-Hmt, and Wep-Renpet.

Each month comprised of three ten-day periods called decades or decans. In spite of the fact that the months were separately named, they were commonly alluded to by the title of the celebrations they spoken to. The final two days of each decade, or decan, were considered occasions and the Egyptians didn’t work. A month was 30 days long on the Egyptian sun powered calendar. Since this didn’t account for all the days within the year, the Egyptians included an intercalary month that happened exterior of the customary calendar year. The intercalary month was five days long, which implied that the Egyptian sun powered calendar misplaced around one-fourth of a day each year relative to the real sun powered year. The five intercalary days were utilized to celebrate the gods’ birthdays and the Egyptians weren’t anticipated to work amid this time.

Calendar at Kom Ombo

 

Decans are bunches of stars in antiquated Egyptian space science that were utilized to tell time at night. The rising of each bunch demonstrated a modern sidereal day; there were 36 bunches, or decans, of stars. Each decan comprised of ten days, which yielded a 360-day year. Names of the decans are known but their areas and their relationship to cutting edge groups of stars are obscure. A sidereal day is characterized as the time taken for one turn of the soil relative to the stars; it’s around four minutes shorter than a sun powered day ..

The Canopus Decree, issued by Ptolemy III, provided for a sixth epagomenal day every fourth year in order to correct this discrepancy. However, the priests and the population in common stood up to this alter and it was in the long run deserted until Augustus set up the Coptic calendar in 25 B.C.

Egyptian Calendar

Dates for common individuals were composed with the number of the month within the season to begin with. Following would be the title of the season, at that point the number of the day relative to the month, and after that the year and the ruler; the climb of a modern ruler restarted the year tally. Every so often, the year number started with the primary full year of the new ruler but would incorporate the time some time recently that with a note to distinguish between the two time periods.

It was critical to preserve precision between the sun oriented calendar year and the genuine sun oriented year so that the heliacal rising of Sirius would happen appropriately. The heliacal rising would happen when Sirius was briefly unmistakable on the skyline instantly some time recently dawn. Sirius was fundamentally vital to the Egyptians since it was the premise of their religion. Before the presentation of soothsaying, old Egyptians utilized the sun powered calendar only, stamping their days and a long time by stellar occasions.

The heliacal rising of  Sirius for example, was the start of the Nile flooding, which occurred every year at Cairo. After the introduction of astrology, the rise of the decans and the stellar occurrences, indicated the onset of diseases and the timing for their cures

Sirius (foot) as seen from the Hubble telescope

 

Importance of Sirius

In expansion to being the brightest star within the sky, Sirius was imperative to the old Egyptians for other reasons. It was considered to be the control behind the sun: The sun kept the physical body lively and Sirius kept the otherworldly body lively. Sirius was related with Isis, the mother goddess of the soil, who is portion of the trinity of Egyptian mythology. The Extraordinary Pyramid of Giza is said to be built in arrangement with Sirius.

Facts Approximately the Egyptian Sun based Calendar

  • The ancient Egyptian calendar was utilized into the center ages since its days and months remained reliable; this encouraged their calculations.

A day for the Egyptians started at sunrise; many surrounding cultures started their day at sunset.

  • Egyptians initially used sundials, hourglasses, and obelisks to tell time during the day and the stars to tell time at night. The introduction of water clocks enabled them to tell time more accurately.
  • A civil lunar year, not tied to to Sirius, was added every four years to account for the extra day needed to balance the solar calendar to the Egyptian calendar. This was known as the wandering year, or annus vagus.
  • July 19th was the Egyptian new year. That was the date that Sirius reappeared on the eastern horizon after a 70-day absence, and the date the Nile began to flood.
  • Some historians believe that Sirius was the star that the wise men followed en route to the birthplace of the baby Jesus.

Written by Ass. Prof. Dr. Eng. / Mohamed Sa’eed Shawqui, Head of Comp. Eng. & Basic Sciences Depts, MHIET, Mansoura, Egypt.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.