![]() The precise orientation of the Egyptian pyramids serves as a lasting demonstration of the high degree of technical skill in watching the heavens attained in the 3rd millennium BCE. Archaeological evidence has linked fractal geometry designs among Sub-Saharan African cultures with Egyptian cosmological signs. The constellation system used among the Egyptians also appears to have been essentially of native origin. The annual flooding of the Nile meant that the heliacal risings, or first visible appearances of stars at dawn, were of special interest in determining when this might occur, and it is no surprise that the 365 day period of the Egyptian calendar was already in use at the beginning of Egyptian history. The presence of stone circles at Nabta Playa in Upper Egypt dating from the 5th millennium BCE show the importance of astronomy to the religious life of ancient Egypt even in the prehistoric period. In the 14th century, Najm al-Din al-Misri wrote a treatise describing over 100 different types of scientific and astronomical instruments, many of which he invented himself.Īncient Egypt Plan of a stone circle at Nabta, EgyptĮgyptian astronomy begins in prehistoric times. In 1006, Ali ibn Ridwan observed the SN 1006, a supernova regarded as the brightest stellar event in recorded history, and left the most detailed description of it. The astronomer Ibn Yunus (c. 950–1009) observed the Sun's position for many years using a large astrolabe, and his observations on eclipses were still used centuries later. Following the Muslim conquest of Egypt, the region came to be dominated by Arabic culture and Islamic astronomy. His works on astronomy, including the Almagest, became the most influential books in the history of Western astronomy. Roman Egypt produced the greatest astronomer of the era, Ptolemy (90–168 CE). In Ptolemaic Egypt, the Egyptian tradition merged with Greek astronomy and Babylonian astronomy, with the city of Alexandria in Lower Egypt becoming the centre of scientific activity across the Hellenistic world. Astronomy played a considerable part in fixing the dates of religious festivals and determining the hours of night, and temple astrologers were especially adept at watching the stars and observing the conjunctions and risings of the Sun, Moon, and planets, as well as the lunar phases. ![]() ![]() The Egyptian pyramids were carefully aligned towards the pole star, and the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak was aligned on the rising of the midwinter Sun. By the time the historical Dynastic Period began in the 3rd millennium BCE, the 365 day period of the Egyptian calendar was already in use, and the observation of stars was important in determining the annual flooding of the Nile. In the 5th millennium BCE, the stone circles at Nabta Playa may have made use of astronomical alignments. ![]() ![]() The sky goddess Nut and human figures representing stars and constellations from the star chart in the tomb of Ramses VI.Įgyptian astronomy began in prehistoric times, in the Predynastic Period. Overview of astronomy in Ancient Egypt Astronomical ceiling from the Tomb of Senenmut ( XVIII Dynasty, circa 1479–1458 BCE), discovered in Thebes, Upper Egypt facsimile preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ![]()
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