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Three Egyptian calendar systems are of historical interest. Two calendars are discussed in this section. The first is the set of calendars used in ancient Egypt. The second is the Coptic calendar, used by the Copts, a Christian sect in Egypt cut off from contact with the rest of the Christian world after the Islamic conquests of the seventh century. This isolation preserved much of the Egyptian language and calendar as they existed in the first centuries A.D. |
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The third Egyptian calendar is the Alexandrian, which is discussed in a later section. |
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9.2.1
Ancient Egyptian Calendars |
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From very early times, the people of ancient Egypt used three calendars. Old calendars were retained in use as new calendars were added, so a complex of parallel calendars was in place from early times and continued until the end of pagan times. |
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The situation in the literature is very confused. Many interpretations have been offered over the years, followed by refutations and counter-arguments. To present the various theories would require a separate book and leave the reader hopelessly confused. In this section, I present a single and, I believe, consistent view. It should not be viewed as gospel. |
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9.2.1.1.1
The Start of the Solar Calendar |
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A great deal of the argument and misconception about the ancient Egyptian calendar concerns the origin of the solar calendar of 365 days. This vague year led early authors to assume that the Egyptians were unaware of the length of a year and led later authors to assume unrealistically remote epochs for the beginning of that calendar. |
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9.2.1.1.2
Sirius Matters The Sothic Cycle |
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The Sun moves against the stars at a rate of about one degree per day. Because of its position and brightness, the Sun obscures certain stars at certain times of the year. For certain stars, however, there comes a time when the Sun has moved far enough away that the star is again visible at dawn, just before sunrise, just above the eastern horizon. This event is the heliacal rising of the star. |
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The star known to us as Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky and was very important to the Egyptians, because the time of its heliacal rising coincided, at the time the first calendar was constructed, with the first flooding of the Nile. |
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