Egyptian Astronomy Research Paper

Egyptian astronomy began in the prehistoric times. The Egyptians knowledge of astronomy helped them contribute to modern day science. The Egyptians were considered “observers of the sky” They are well known for their contribution of the 24 hour day and the calendar. “When the lack of rainfall in North Africa forced a man to abandon his nomadic life as a hunter and settle down near water, he had perforce to become mainly an agriculturist. In eastern North Africa the Nile valley proved to be an admirable haven.” (Scribner 2008)
The center of Egyptian civilization was the the flooding of the Nile River. The river flooded every year at the same time and provided rich soil for agriculture. The Egyptian astronomers, who were actually priests, realized that the flooding always occurred at the summer solstice. The priests were therefore able to predict the annual flooding, which made them powerful. Many Egyptian buildings were built with an astronomical orientation. The temples and pyramids were constructed in relation to the stars, constellations, and zodiac. In different cities, the buildings had different orientations based on the specific religion of that place. For example, some temples were made to align with a star that either rose or set at harvest or sowing time. Others were oriented toward the solstices or equinoxes. As …show more content…
The ancient Egyptian calendar had a year that was 365 days long. The year consisted of 12 months of 30 days each, plus five extra days at the end of the year. The months were divided into three weeks of ten days each.For much of Egyptian history, the months were not referred to by individual names, but were rather numbered within the three seasons, akhet, peret and shemu. As early as the Middle Kingdom, each month had its own name. These finally evolved into the New Kingdom months, which were then given the Hellenized names that were used for chronology by Ptolemy and