Abstract
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015. The ancient Egyptians had a wide range of constellations, which populated the skies of ancient Egypt (see Chap. 133, “Orientation of Egyptian Temples: An Overview”) for more than three millennia, whose knowledge has come to us through lists of stars and other representations which have mainly appeared in a dozen of coffins, a few clepsydrae, and a good set of astronomical ceilings. Hence, by making very simple assumptions and using the information provided by the ancient Egyptian sky-watchers, it is possible to uncover a great part of the ancient Egyptian firmament. This celestial tapestry was populated by the images of animals, symbols, and divinities that were most significant in understanding the Egyptian interpretation of the cosmos.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy |
Pages | 1477-1488 |
Number of pages | 11 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2015 |