Astronomy in Ancient Egypt

2018 ◽  
pp. 60-70
Author(s):  
Joachim Friedrich Quack
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Hours ◽  
Greek Myths

This chapter studies Egyptian astronomy based on the very few surviving texts. The Egyptian calendar was purely solar, unlike most ancient calendars. The oldest astronomical monuments from Egypt are the star clocks, mainly on the interior of coffin lids from the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties. They divide the year into 36 ten-day intervals (decades), each with 12 stars, to mark the hours of the night for religious purposes. The major text of Egyptian astronomy is the Book of Nut, the sky goddess, which describes the behavior of the sun, moon, and especially fixed stars, as well as shadow clocks and water clocks. The Egyptian constellations were fundamentally different from ours (based on Mesopotamian and Greek myths), with Osiris (our Orion), Seth (our Big Dipper), and Sirius playing a prominent role, plus the Ship, the Sheep, and the Two Tortoises. Late Egyptian astronomy borrows some techniques from Mesopotamian astronomy. In the Greco-Roman period, Egyptian astronomy borrows elements from Greco-Roman astronomy.

The Planets in Ancient Egypt

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Friedrich Quack
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Maximum Power ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Late Period ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Religious Associations ◽  
Night Sky

The five visible planets are certainly attested to in Egyptian sources from about 2000 bce. The three outer ones are religiously connected with the falcon-headed god Horus, Venus with his father Osiris, and Mercury with Seth, the brother and murderer of Osiris. Clear attestations of the planets are largely limited to decoration programs covering the whole night sky. There are a number of passages in religious texts where planets may be mentioned, but many of them are uncertain because the names given to the planets are for most of them not specific enough to exclude other interpretations. There may have been a few treatises giving a more detailed religious interpretation of the planets and their behavior, but they are badly preserved and hardly understandable in the details. In the Late Period, probably under Mesopotamian influence, the sequence of the planets as well as their religious associations could change; at least one source links Saturn with the Sun god, Mars with Miysis, Mercury with Thot, Venus with Horus, son of Isis, and Jupiter with Amun, arranging the planets with those considered negative in astrology first, separated from the positive ones by the vacillating Mercury. Late monuments depicting the zodiac place the planets in positions which are considered important in astrology, especially the houses or the place of maximum power (hypsoma; i.e., “exaltation”). Probably under Babylonian influence, in the Greco-Roman Period mathematical models for calculating the positions and phases of the planets arose. These were used for calculating horoscopes, of which a number in demotic Egyptian are attested. There are also astrological treatises (most still unpublished) in the Egyptian language which indicate the relevance of planets for forecasts, especially for the fate of individuals born under a certain constellation, but also for events important for the king and the country in general; they could be relevant also for enterprises begun at a certain date. There is some reception of supposedly or actually specific Egyptian planet sequences, names and religious associations in Greek sources.

Ancient Egyptians’ Atypical Relationship with Invertebrates

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 716-732
Author(s):  
Linda Evans ◽  
Philip Weinstein
Keyword(s):  
Vital Role ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The People ◽  
Cultural Roles ◽  
Ubiquitous Presence

AbstractDespite the ubiquitous presence and vital role of invertebrates in all known ecological systems, insects and arachnids are largely viewed as repugnant by people. Consequently, until nature intervenes in the form of infestations, swarms or plagues, we largely prefer to ignore them, lest our attention invite unwelcome interaction. In contrast, the people of ancient Egypt did not distance themselves from invertebrates but instead celebrated their myriad forms. Egyptian appreciation of insects and arachnids is reflected in a range of art, artefacts, and texts dating from the predynastic era until the Greco-Roman period, revealing many positive cultural roles, from practical to conceptual. By assigning them a useful function, they were rendered visible and relevant to Egyptian society. The Egyptians’ example suggests that as necessity forces us to acknowledge the value of invertebrates—from their function as pollinators to becoming future food sources—our respect for them may also grow.

Going Through Hell; ΤΑΡΤΑΡΟΣ in Greco-Roman Culture, Second Temple Judaism, and Philo of Alexandria

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 352-378
Author(s):  
Clint Burnett
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Judaism ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Philo Of Alexandria ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Roman Culture ◽  
Greek Myths

This article questions the longstanding supposition that the eschatology of the Second Temple period was solely influenced by Persian or Iranian eschatology, arguing instead that the literature of this period reflects awareness of several key Greco-Roman mythological concepts. In particular, the concepts of Tartarus and the Greek myths of Titans and Giants underlie much of the treatment of eschatology in the Jewish literature of the period. A thorough treatment of Tartarus and related concepts in literary and non-literary sources from ancient Greek and Greco-Roman culture provides a backdrop for a discussion of these themes in the Second Temple period and especially in the writings of Philo of Alexandria.

The Reception of Ancient Egypt and Its Script in Renaissance Europe

2020 ◽  
pp. 192-204
Author(s):  
Lucie Jirásková
Keyword(s):  
Personal Experience ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Successful Attempt ◽  
Symbolic Approach

The chapter focuses on the perception of ancient Egypt and its culture through the eyes of Renaissance scholars and humanists. They could have known ancient Egypt from personal experience, including travels to Egypt or visits to Egyptian monuments that had been brought to Italy in the Roman period. The hieroglyphic script engraved into obelisks became a source of inspiration for the emblematics, but in fact never led to any successful attempt to decipher the ancient script. The symbolic approach to hieroglyphs was also supported by the philosophical trend of the time, Hermetism. It was a “construct” of Late Antiquity, resurrected and elaborated by Renaissance humanists, who were able to apply it to various branches of Renaissance science.

General

2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-238
Author(s):  
Ivana Petrovic ◽  
Andrej Petrovic
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
Creation Myths ◽  
The Third ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Astronomical Instruments ◽  
Music Of The Spheres ◽  
Desert Island ◽  
Complete Translation

If you still haven't chosen a book to take with to the desert island, I have a suggestion: L'encyclopédie du ciel. At 1,202 pages, it will keep you occupied day and night: what you read as text by day will help you read by night in the sky. This wonderful and extremely useful book is as difficult to classify as it is to put down. Essentially, it is a compendium of Greco-Roman discourse on the stars and planets, divided into three parts. The first (‘Les images: histoire et mythologie: voir et raconter’) is about the constellations and the planets. It opens with a catalogue in which each constellation is illustrated, explained, and accompanied with appropriate quotations from Eratosthenes’ Catasterismoi and Hyginus’ Astronomica. There follow essays about the names of the constellations, on the Sun, Moon, and the planets, and one on Greek and Roman creation myths. All are accompanied by long passages of appropriate Greek and Latin texts in translation. The second part of the book (‘Les lois: l'astronomie: observer et calculer’) is about the ancient attempts to make sense of and explain the stars and planets as a system, about calendars, and about ancient astronomical instruments and objects. This part of the book also contains a complete translation of Hipparchus’ Commentary on the Phaenomena of Eudoxus and Aratus. It closes with an account of Greek star catalogues. The third part of the book is concerned with various attempts to interpret the celestial phenomena (‘Les messages: signes et influence: interpréter et prédire’). It includes, but is not restricted to, astrology; philosophical ideas are also discussed, such as astral apotheosis, the ascent of the soul through the sky, and the music of the spheres. There is a dictionary of astronomical and astrological terms and a dictionary of ancient astronomers and authors dealing with astronomy. The book closes with parallel star catalogues of Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, and Ptolemy.

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