Der Stern Sirius im Alten Ägypten
Open accessAbstract
Recorded dates of heliacal risings of the star Sirius as reported from ancient Egypt have been used for chronological purposes for more than 100 years. This paper presents new calculations of heliacal risings and settings of Sirius for different places in Egypt and discusses the influences of various parameters and their uncertainties on the results. Comparison with ancient Egyptian observations gives a mean value for the arcus visionis of Sirius of about 10°, with plausible values between 9° and 11° depending on the transparency of the atmosphere. This means that a date of a heliacal rising or setting of Sirius, which was recorded in the Egyptian calendar, can pin down the absolute dating of the observation to 12 years, if one assumes that the place of observation is known and if no further information, e.g. lunar data, is available. All results of the calculations are accessible online.
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A new astronomically based chronological model for the Egyptian Old Kingdom
Gautschy, R., Habicht, M. E., Galassi, F. M., Rutica, D., Rühli, F. J., & Hannig, R. (2017) · Journal of Egyptian History · doi:10.1163/18741665-12340035 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Self-citationMulti-star target model for astronomical orientation of the Old Kingdom Egyptian pyramids
Пучков, А. П. (2023) · The Oriental studies · doi:10.15407/skhodoznavstvo2023.91.003 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Crijns, M. (2020) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-020-0496-2
“Notably, the mummification of the deceased took also seventy days (Gautschy, 2011).”
BackgroundSothic Dating of the Egyptian Old Kingdom
Puchkov, A. (2024) · The World of the Orient · doi:10.15407/orientw2024.01.042
- Authors
- Gautschy, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Basel (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Gautschy, Rita
- ORCID
- Gautschy, Rita
- Venue
- Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Published
- 2011-12
- Volume
- 138
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 116-131
- ISSN
- 0044-216X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2026134093
- Semantic Scholar
- d160390b025b4ec09e6df1660bb0887c4712565e
- Cited by
- 4
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde (publishedVersion)
- edoc (University of Basel) (acceptedVersion)
- reroDoc Digital Library (submittedVersion)
- edoc (University of Basel)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Historical Astronomy and Related Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Historical and Architectural Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient Egypt and Archaeology
- Keywords
- Sirius, heliacal rising, ancient Egyptian astronomy, Egyptian calendar, absolute dating, atmospheric transparency
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