Content uploaded by Mosalam Shaltout
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Mosalam Shaltout on Jul 06, 2014
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
On the Orientation of Ancient Egyptian Temples: (4) Epilogue in Serabit El Khadim and Overview
... The December 2006 mission brought with us to Egypt a graduate student of Egyptology, Noemi Miranda, working on the iconography of the Egyptian goddess of computus and time-keeping, Seshat, and the related epigraphy. Figure 14 illustrates some of the outcomes yielded by a most intriguing hypothesis which came out as a parallel exercise of the main results of our mission (Belmonte, Molinero and Miranda, 2009: 193 Belmonte and Shaltout, 2009. in mind for our archaeoastronomy project of ancient Egyptian culture (Belmonte, Shaltout and Fekri, 2008). The principal dilemma we wanted to solve was whether the temples of this civilization were astronomically orientated or not. ...
... At Snefru times this path was free up to the entrance of the Djoser complex and a person ascending the plateau would have seen the two giant pyramids of Dashour standing alone at the horizon, perhaps representing the two (re-united) parts of the country. Interestingly, immediately thereafter the son of Snefru and first of the solar kings, Khufu, will design his funerary project at Giza following the same pattern, but adding to the paired mountains the sun setting in between, i.e. the hieroglyph akhet ; the name of the Great Pyramid was indeed akhet Khufu and was replicated every year by a spectacular hierophany occurring at the summer solstice (Lehner 1985, Belmonte, Shaltout and Fekri 2009, Magli 2009a. ...
... as shown in the different chapters of the recent volume, In Search of Cosmic Order,Belmonte and Shaltout, 2009. ...
Cultural Astronomy is the endeavour to understand the role of the sky in past and present societies, and how these societies incorporated the sky into their culture. This broad ranging discipline is closely related to archaeology when investigating material remains of the past. Cultural Astronomy also explores the role of the heavens from the perspectives of the anthropological sciences. In recent decades the discipline has been concerned with methodological and theoretical issues. This volume offers chapters based on presentations at the 27th SEAC meeting held in Bern (2019). These chapters provide a vivid image of front-line research in diverse areas, from Roman light and shadow effects to highlight power, to Maya city organization, Etruscan temple orientation or the ontology of the sky.
EDITORS
A. César González García is currently the president of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC). Based at the Institute of Heritage Sciences in Santiago de Compostela (Spain), his main research lines are centered in the orientation of past cultures buildings, including possible astronomical and landscape relations.
Roslyn M. Frank has been an active member of SEAC since its inception. Her research areas are Basque culture and language, ethnomathemtics and ethnoastronomy, landscape and skyscape studies, as well as European folklore and ethnography.
Lionel D. Sims, B.Sc. (Hons) Salford, M.Sc. LSE, M.Sc. Surrey, M.Sc. UCL, Ph.D. UEL. Head of Anthropology, University of East London (Emeritus). A film of his research, ‘Stonehenge Rediscovered’, was commissioned for National Geographic and distributed world-wide. He uses inter-disciplinary method by integrating archaeology, archaeoastronomy, anthropology and mythology.
Michael A. Rappenglück Dr. rer. nat. (history of sciences, history of astronomy) and M.A. (philosophy); He carried out studies of history of natural sciences, astronomy and systematical theology at the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich. Since 1990 he is general manager and head of the Adult Center Gilching, Munich, Germany.
Georg Zotti is computer scientist and astronomer, currently working at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology. His key interest in cultural astronomy is the application of computer graphics and virtual environments for research and demonstration of historical astronomical events, building orientation with enclosing landscape etc.
Juan A. Belmonte is Research Professor of Astronomy at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Tenerife, Spain). He was the President of SEAC from 2005 to 2011. In 2012 he received the "Carlos Jaschek" award of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture for his contributions to the discipline. He is advisory editor of the Journal for the History of Astronomy.
Ivan Šprajc Ph.D. in anthropology (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1997), he is head of the Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies, of the Scientific Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU), in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Šprajc's interests have been focused on Mesoamerican archaeology and archaeoastronomy.
... The December 2006 mission brought with us to Egypt a graduate student of Egyptology, Noemi Miranda, working on the iconography of the Egyptian goddess of computus and time-keeping, Seshat, and the related epigraphy. Figure 14 illustrates some of the outcomes yielded by a most intriguing hypothesis which came out as a parallel exercise of the main results of our mission (Belmonte, Molinero and Miranda, 2009: 193 Belmonte and Shaltout, 2009. in mind for our archaeoastronomy project of ancient Egyptian culture (Belmonte, Shaltout and Fekri, 2008). The principal dilemma we wanted to solve was whether the temples of this civilization were astronomically orientated or not. ...
... At Snefru times this path was free up to the entrance of the Djoser complex and a person ascending the plateau would have seen the two giant pyramids of Dashour standing alone at the horizon, perhaps representing the two (re-united) parts of the country. Interestingly, immediately thereafter the son of Snefru and first of the solar kings, Khufu, will design his funerary project at Giza following the same pattern, but adding to the paired mountains the sun setting in between, i.e. the hieroglyph akhet ; the name of the Great Pyramid was indeed akhet Khufu and was replicated every year by a spectacular hierophany occurring at the summer solstice (Lehner 1985, Belmonte, Shaltout and Fekri 2009, Magli 2009a. ...
... as shown in the different chapters of the recent volume, In Search of Cosmic Order,Belmonte and Shaltout, 2009. ...
The 2009 SEAC Annual Meeting was deliberately planned within the celebrations for the International Year of Astronomy. It should contribute to a deepening of the understanding of human beings as inhabitants of the spaceship Earth in a vast space of countless worlds by looking back at the cultural history of astronomy and with a view to a common starry sky. The new library in Alexandria, Egypt, was chosen as the knowledge transfer site, as the old library once set it. In libraries, the cultures of all times come together, come alive, and continue to affect the future. It is about the transmission of knowledge and very much about the encounter of people. The European Society for the Role of Astronomy in Culture (SEAC), founded in 1992, is committed to studying Cultural Astronomy (with its sub-disciplines and in interaction with neighbouring sciences). The 17th annual conference took place from 25 to 31 October 2009 at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) host. It was about the following topics: Megalithic Phenomena in the ancient Mediterranean and beyond - Archeoastronomy in the ancient Mediterranean and beyond - Eastern Mediterranean Astronomy (Egypt, Greece, and Rhodes) - Astronomy at the Ancient Bibliotheca of Alexandria - Astronomy in Old Europe - Astronomy in Middle Ages - Islamic Astronomy - Copernicus and Galileo Galilei Revolutions - Babylonian Astronomy - Mesoamerican and Pacific Astronomy - Minoan Civilisation Astronomy - Traditional African Astronomy - Other Topics in Cultural Astronomy. More than lectures, including invited ones, were given. Almost 80 presentations, including some invited, were given. This volume contains contributions (peer-reviewed) from them.
... The temples of the Delta and Nile Valley were orientated according to the Nile and astronomical measures. There were only three main kinds of astronomical orientation that were present in most of the Egyptian temples (Belmonte, Shaltout, and Fekri, 2008); ...
... In general, the temples of solar deities have solar orientations, while those belonging to goddesses were mainly orientated to the brightest stars in the ancient Egyptian sky "Sirius". (Belmonte, Shaltout, and Fekri, 2008) The Cardinal Orientation in the Pyramids at Giza Plateau Concerning the astronomical aspects of the pyramids at Giza plateau; its sides were aligned to the four cardinal points north-south and east-west. Determining the cardinal points is astronomy in itself. ...
Astronomy goes back many centuries throughout the world. Especially in Egypt its origin appears in the ancient Egyptian texts referring to the surrounding nature, temple orientations, and paintings on the ceilings and walls of tombs, temples, and sarcophagi. Further, Egypt combines different phenomena that could be seen either with the naked eyes or the telescopes as African skies remain the most accessible and biggest astronomy laboratories as the continent is situated under the clearest such and darkest night sky. This study explores astronomy tourism, travelling for astronomy-related purposes as a significant tourism phenomenon, though a rising trend is an innovative offer of tourism to Egypt during and after the covid-19 Pandemic. The principle aims of this study are to give insight into astronomy tourism; explore the current practices and the ongoing construction of astronomy tourism in Egypt; explore the group culture of astronomy tourists, their behaviors and individual travel experience; which kind of astronomy tourism do they prefer; andthe current situation and the prospects for the future development of astronomy tourism in Egypt. This study made use of mixed methods, which included both qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (Questionnaire) research analyses. The interviews targeted the tour operators’ managers operating this kind of tourism and the admins of online travel groups to gain an in-depth understanding of the current situation of astronomy tourism in Egypt and its future developing prospects. Other interviews were held with the directors of observatories and astronomy societies in Egypt to explore the current practices and the ongoing construction of Astronomy tourism in Egypt. The questionnaire targeted the international and domestic tourists, utilizing the Leisure Motivation Scale (LMS) to make an assessment of the most influential factors that draw tourists to astronomy activities and events. Based on the results, astronomy tourism in Egypt should gain more attention from stakeholders to be promoted and developed as a new trend in Egypt.
... The temples of the Delta and Nile Valley were orientated according to the Nile and astronomical measures. There were only three main kinds of astronomical orientation that were present in most of the Egyptian temples (Belmonte, Shaltout, and Fekri, 2008); ...
... In general, the temples of solar deities have solar orientations, while those belonging to goddesses were mainly orientated to the brightest stars in the ancient Egyptian sky "Sirius". (Belmonte, Shaltout, and Fekri, 2008) The Cardinal Orientation in the Pyramids at Giza Plateau Concerning the astronomical aspects of the pyramids at Giza plateau; its sides were aligned to the four cardinal points north-south and east-west. Determining the cardinal points is astronomy in itself. ...
... The temples of the Delta and Nile Valley were orientated according to the Nile and astronomical measures. There were only three main kinds of astronomical orientation that were present in most of the Egyptian temples (Belmonte, Shaltout, and Fekri, 2008); ...
... In general, the temples of solar deities have solar orientations, while those belonging to goddesses were mainly orientated to the brightest stars in the ancient Egyptian sky "Sirius". (Belmonte, Shaltout, and Fekri, 2008) The Cardinal Orientation in the Pyramids at Giza Plateau Concerning the astronomical aspects of the pyramids at Giza plateau; its sides were aligned to the four cardinal points north-south and east-west. Determining the cardinal points is astronomy in itself. ...
... It is not that Neugebauer was ignorant of this cultural context, particularly with regard to Greek and Babylonian astronomy and astrology (he wrote knowledgably on the latter as well : Neugebauer & van Hoesen, 1959), but at times he seems to have had a blind spot with regard to some cultural demonstrations of astronomical knowledge, par ticularly in his approach to Egyptian astronomy. Recent works (e.g., Belmonte, Shaltout, & Fekri, 2008;Magli, 2013;Quack, 2016) represent a welcome antidote to Neugebauer's famous dismissal of Egyptian mathematical astronomy in a handful of pages (Neuge bauer, 1975, pp. 559-565). ...
Blending sacred geometry with elementary geometry education not only adds depth and richness to the subject but also transcends traditional boundaries, emphasizing the interconnectedness of art, science, and architecture. The discovery that ancient consecrated structures based on sacred geometry store electromagnetic energy underscores the profound relationship between the arts, sciences, and architecture as perceived by ancient civilizations by fostering a multidisciplinary approach akin to STEAM education. This motivates us to trace the scientific grounds for integrating sacred geometry into STEAM curricula. We contemplate the foundation of sacred geometry through some elementary geometrical constructions and show how they can be organized in the most elementary style as a part of sufficiently flexible, rather than a rigid, core curriculum that would not only help students in grasping the significant interrelationships between art, science, geometry and architecture, but also contribute to a more profound and interconnected understanding of the modern world.
‘Skyscapes’ will focus on expounding the best and most spectacular results obtained by the Egyptian-Spanish Mission on ‘Archaeoastronomy of Ancient Egypt’ in the 2000s, upgraded and updated by the authors’ own research in the field over the last decade. A series of case studies on the most important pyramid complexes and great temples of Egypt will be examined. An excursus to ancient Kush will also be discussed. The interaction between Egyptian sacred landscapes, using the Nile as a paradigm, and solar, lunar and stellar skyscapes will be emphasized.
The Qubbet el-Hawa necropolis, located on the west bank of the Nile, was the burial site chosen by the elite of Elephantine, from the Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom, and became one of the most important provincial cemeteries in the country. The hill affects the course of the River Nile and determines the disposition of the hypogea distributed between its two slopes (southeast and northeast). Therefore, the topography (and the river) determined the alignments of most of the tombs. During the Middle Kingdom, although only six large funerary complexes were built, there was a very significant change in the architecture of the necropolis in terms of the design of the burial chapels (which were planned as if they were a funerary temple), as well as the accuracy of the construction methods. In addition, they stand out because they were planned (and built) with a strongly symbolic double orientation, which is the subject of this study. The astronomical alignments of these funerary complexes, normally associated with royal temples and burials, appear to have been appropriated by the governors of Elephantine, lower-level officials, which has implications for our understanding of both Egyptian governance and Egyptian astronomy; undoubtedly, the architects had to possess knowledge of astronomy. The result is that these funerary complexes represent a clear example of “cultured” architecture carried out in a provincial cemetery. This article examines in detail the alignments of four of these funeral complexes: QH36, QH32, QH31 and QH33, building on the work of Belmonte and his collaborators in Qubbet el-Hawa, who are primarily responsible for increasing our data of Egyptian astronomical alignments
In JEA 78, it was argued that the 'opening of the mouth' ritual of the Egyptian mortuary cult re-enacted the transitions of birth and childhood in order to render the reborn dead person mature enough to eat an adult meal. Here its central act, the opening of the mouth itself, is shown to mimic the clearing of a newborn's mouth with the little fingers. Originally, the gesture resembled that of anointing; later the fingers were replaced by the finger-shaped nṯrwj-blades, and in the Sixth Dynasty the adze was imported from the statue ritual. As frequently happened in Egyptian religion, however, ritual texts and iconography continued to invoke the older implements along with the newer tools, in order to render the ritual more effective. The relationship between birth and statues is intriguingly paralleled in a Mesopotamian statue ritual.
Les axes nord-sud de Karnak, tels qu'ils sont reperables sur le socle du sanctuaire de quartzite de l'Akhmenou ou sur l'axe processionnel des VIIe et VIIIe pylones, presentent des decalages vers l'est. Ceux-ci paraissent coincider avec l'azimut du couchant de Canope sous Antef II pour l'un et sous Thoutmosis III pour l'autre. La direction nord-sud serait alors a mettre en relation avec l'aspect chthonien de Canope (assimilee a Osiris), oppose a la dimension solaire de l'axe est-ouest.
The Sahara west of the Nile in southern Egypt was hyperarid and unoccupied during most of the Late Pleistocene epoch. About 11,000 years ago' the summer monsoons of central Africa moved into Egypt, and temporary lakes or playas were formed. The Nabta Playa depression, which is one of the largest in southern Egypt, is a kidney-shaped basin of roughly 10 km by 7 km in area(2-4). We report the discovery of megalithic alignments and stone circles ne?a to locations of Middle and Late Neolithic communities at Nabta, which suggest the early development of a complex society. The southward shift of the monsoons in the Late Neolithic age rendered the area once again hyperarid and uninhabitable some 4,800 radiocarbon years before the present (years BP). This well-determined date establishes that the ceremonial complex of Nabta, which has alignments to cardinal and solstitial directions, was a very early megalithic expression of ideology and astronomy. Five megalithic alignments within the playa deposits radiate outwards from megalithic structures, which may have been funerary structures. The organization of the megaliths suggests a symbolic geometry that integrated death, water, and the Sun. An exodus from the Nubian Desert at similar to 4,800 years sp may have stimulated social differentiation and cultural complexity in predynastic Upper Egypt.
The ancient Egyptian pyramids at Giza have never been accurately dated, although we know that they were built approximately around the middle of the third millennium BC. The chronologies of this period have been reconstructed from surviving lists of kings and the lengths of their reigns, but the lists are rare, seldom complete and contain known inconsistencies and errors. As a result, the existing chronologies for that period (the Old Kingdom) can be considered accurate only to about +/-100 years, a figure that radiocarbon dating cannot at present improve. Here I use trends in the orientation of Old Kingdom pyramids to demonstrate that the Egyptians aligned them to north by using the simultaneous transit of two circumpolar stars. Modelling the precession of these stars yields a date for the start of construction of the Great Pyramid that is accurate to +/-5 yr, thereby providing an anchor for the Old Kingdom chronologies.
198, 256 and 286, respectively. Also relevant for Mons Claudianus is
- S Aufrère
- J C Golvin
- J C Goyon
- Ii
361, one of the causes for the double axis would be the early temple built on site by Sethy I with the same orientation as that of the main axis of the Ramesseum. This would imply that Ramses II respected an older axis but also established a new one (that of the pylon) for his own temple
- However
- A Badawy
- History Of Egyptian Architecture