The Ancient Egyptian Calendar Systems
For centuries Ancient Egypt meticulously kept three calendars running simultaneously. They had a Lunar, a Civil ,and a Sothic or ‘fixed year’ calendar. In the past, historians of Egypt have pointed towards the importance of the effect of the rise and flood of the Nile river on Egypt’s agriculture as the inspiration for its study of astronomy and subsequently the development of the complex and very accurate calendar systems…
… however, as John Anthony West points out, a rough lunar calendar would have been sufficient for agriculture…
The cycles of the moon, sun, and Sirius were kept separate, West explains, ‘because their effects were different’.
The Lunar calendar was followed for agriculture and fertility festivals, civil activities followed the civil year, and still others followed the fixed or Sothic Calendar.
The Ancient Egyptians were aware that the year was 365 and ¼ days long; they could tell this because the civil calendar slowly shifted backwards through the seasons. There was no reason these highly intelligent people could not have added a simple leap year to eliminate the need for the extra calendar but that, West points out would have eliminated keeping track of those events related to the star Sirius and the Sothic calendar.
The Sothic Cycle or ‘Sothic year‘ was the time it took for the 365 day Civil Calendar to lose enough time (at the rate of ¼ day per year) so that the start of it’s year ( 1 Thoth) would once again coincide with the heliacal rising of the star Sirius. This cycle, called the Sothic Cycle, Sothic year or Canicular period, was 1461 Egyptian Civil years (of 365 days each) or 1460 Julian years (averaging 365 ¼ days each.) The beginning of the Sothic Cycle or Year ( every 1461 civil years or 1460 Julian years) was called the ‘New Year’.
John Anthony West makes note that it was indeed the Egyptian method of recording events according to both calendars that has allowed modern Egyptologists to establish the Egyptian timeline with precision; since the coincidence of the heliacal rising of the star Sirius with the summer solstice happens in such a narrow range. That being said, West goes on to explain a rather fundamental controversy over the date for the founding of Egypt as a unified Kingdom: 4240 BC, 2780 BC or 1320 BC?
The controversy, he points out, is more based on a modern misconception that it would be impossible for Egyptian Civilization to be as old as 4240 BC. However, in a fabulous interview with David Wilcox, West explains that ‘all that has changed’ since the discovery and dating of the Gobeklitepe site in Turkey…
Conventional Egyptology has indicated that the prominence the star Sirius has enjoyed in Ancient Egypt was primarily focused around its role in heralding in the flooding of the Nile river each season. However, Schwaller de Lubicz points out in his book a Sacred Science which was published in 1961, that Sirius is the only star among the fixed stars which would have allowed the Egyptians to maintain the fixed year calendar like it did…
"...that the double star of Sirius was chosen (by the Ancient Egyptians) for these coincidences; because it is the ONLY star that moves the needed distance and in the right direction against the background of the other stars (to allow a fixed year calendar to be maintained). This fact known FOUR THOUSAND YEARS before our time and forgotten until our day obviously demands an EXTRAORDINARY and PROLONGED observation of the sky."
The Sothic Cycle or ‘Sothic year‘ was the time it took for the 365 day Civil Calendar to lose enough time (at the rate of 1/4 day per year) so that the start of it’s year (1 Thoth) would once again coincide with the heliacal rising of the star Sirius. This cycle, called the Sothic Cycle, Sothic year or Canicular period, was 1461 Egyptian Civil years (of 365 days each) or 1460 Julian years (averaging 365 1/4 days each.) The beginning of the Sothic Cycle or Year (ever 1461 civil years or 1460 Julian years) was called the ‘New Year.’
John Anthony West makes note that it was indeed the Egyptian method of recording events accordig to both calendars that has allowed modern Egyptologists to establish the Egyptian timeline with precision; since the coincidence of the heliacal rising of the star Sirius with the summer solstice happens in such a narrow range. That being said, West goes on to explain a rather fundamental controversy over the date for the founding of Egypt as a unified Kingdom; 4240 BC, 2780 BC or 1320 BC?
The controversy, he points out, is more based on a modern misconception that it would be impossible for Egyptian Civilization to be as old as 4240 BC. However, in a fabulous interview with David Wilcox, West explains that ‘all that has changed since the discovery and dating of the Gobeklitepe site in Turkey…
Conventional Egyptology has indicated that the prominence the star Sirius has enjoyed in Ancient Egypt was primarily focused around its role in heralding in the flooding of the Nile river each season. However, Schwaller de Lubicz points out in his book a Sacred Science which was published in 1961, that Sirius is the only star among the fixed stars which would have alled the Egyptians to maintain the fixed year calendar like it did…
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"...that the double star of Sirius was chosen (by the Ancient Egyptians) for these coincidences; because it is the ONLY star that moves the needed distance and in the right direction against the background of the other stars (to allow a fixed year calendar to be maintained). This fact known FOUR THOUSAND YEARS before our time and forgotten until our day obviously demands an EXTRAORDINARY and PROLONGED observation of the sky."
The Sothic Cycle or ‘Sothic year‘ was the time it took for the 365 day Civil Calendar to lose enough time(at the rate of 1/4 day per year) so that the start of it’s year (1 Thoth) would once again coincide with the heliacal rising of the star Sirius. This cycle, called the Sothic Cycle, Sothic year, or Canicular period, was 1461 Egyptian Civil years (of 365 days each) or 1460 Julian years (averaging 365 1/4 days each.) The beginning of the Sothic Cycle or Year (every 1461 civil years or 1460 Julian years) was called the ‘New Year.’
John Anthony West makes note that it was indeed the Egyptian method of recording events accordig to both calendars that has allowed modern Egyptologists to establish the Egyptian timeline with precision; since the coincidence of the heliacal rising of the star Sirius with the summer solstice happens in such a narrow range. That being said, West goes on to explain a rather fundamental controversy over the date for the founding of Egypt as a unified Kingdom; 4240 BC, 2780 BC or 1320 BC?
The controversy, he points out, is more based on a modern misconception that it would be impossible for Egyptian Civilization to be as old as 4240 BC. However, in a fabulous interview with David Wilcox, West explains that ‘all that has changed since the discovery and dating of the Gobeklitepe site in Turkey…
Conventional Egyptology has indicated that the prominence the star Sirius has enjoyed in Ancient Egypt was primarily focused around its role in heralding in the flooding of the Nile river each season. However, Schwaller de Lubicz points out in his book a Sacred Science which was published in 1961, that Sirius is the only star among the fixed stars which would have alled the Egyptians to maintain the fixed year calendar like it did…
"...that the double star of Sirius was chosen (by the Ancient Egyptians) for these coincidences; because it is the ONLY star that moves the needed distance and in the right direction against the background of the other stars (to allow a fixed year calendar to be maintained). This fact known FOUR THOUSAND YEARS before our time and forgotten until our day obviously demands an EXTRAORDINARY and PROLONGED observation of the sky."
In the same paragraph Lubicz goes on to write,
‘It can therefore be supposed that Sirius plays the role of a center for the circuit of our entire solar system.’
The reason Sirius is the only star that allows this cycle (fixed year calendar) to be maintained by measurement between it’s heliacal risings is because the star Sirius does not precess.
In the same paragraph Lubicz goes on to write,
‘It can therefore be supposed that Sirius plays the role of a center for the circuit of our entire solar system.’
In the same paragraph Lubicz goes on to write,
‘It can therefore be supposed that Sirius plays the role of a center for the circuit of our entire solar system.’
The reason Sirius is the only star that allows this cycle (fixed year calendar) to be maintained by measurement between it’s heliacal risings is because the star Sirius does not precess.
The reason Sirius is the only star that allows this cycle (fixed year calendar) to be maintained by measurement between it’s heliacal risings is because the star Sirius does not precess.
Other ancient cultures that used the rise of Sirius to determine the beginning of the calendar year included ancient Mesopotamia, the Dogon tribe in Mali, Hindu yoga traditions across India, New Zealand and China. All of these ancient cultures had mythology outlining the importance of the star Sirius.
“If it can be proven that our sun is in a binary system it would shed some light on the knowledge and wisdom that some of the ancient civilizations had …”
-Uwe Homan, Author & Theorist Sirius Research Group
Resources:
britannica.com/science/Egyptian-Calendar
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sothic_cycle#
https://www.gaia.com/video/sacred-science-ancient-egypt?fullplayer=feature
humanoriginproject.com/sirius-mythology-two-sun-solar-system/
HubbleSite: Image – An Artist’s Impression of Sirius A and Sirius B
Schwaller de Lubicz, R. A. SACRED SCIENCE: The king of Pharaonic Theocracy. Inner Traditions ©1961 Rochester, Vermont.
theacropolitan.in/magazine/the-temples-of-ancient-egypt/
West, John Anthony. SERPENT in the SKY: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt. Quest Books © 1993 Wheaton, Illinois.