Shows Lectures related to
Ancient Egyptian Astronomy realized in
collaboration with Les Chemins Buissonniers
Les Chemins Buissonniers are a non-profit organization based at Rieumes, Haute Garonne. This Club "Science and Citizens" of the CNRS is also part of UNESCO Clubs which aim at providing access to culture to every citizen, without any distinctions. We talk here about scientific culture which Les Chemins Buissonniers try to spread as widely as possible in the form of meetings, conferences and performances involving the imagination, creativity and talent of artists and scientists.
On December the 9th, 2005, the Culture Diff' company and Les Chemins Buissonniers gave an art and science show focusing on Egyptian Archaeoastronomy. The scientific content of this show was taken from the 2006 calendar entitled "From Atum to Hubble: trip into the cosmos between past and present." Here follow the details of the show and the content of the 2006 calendar.
Astronomy in Ancient Egypt (Show - Lecture)Partners : Culture Diff', Les Chemins Buissonniers, MJC de Rieumes et du Savès
Time and Place : December 9, 2005 à Rieumes (31)
Behind the words are hidden a meaning ... and sounds. The sounds are the resonance of words. When listening to Claude Nougaro, it even seems that poetry is made of sounds that make sense. In this poetic evening, the voice of the viola da gamba (Nathalie Estevenin) and song (Luc Baron) will join those of science (Karine Gadré) for you to share the emotion associated with the rediscovery of four thousand years of human history. Four thousand years of evolution of thought, through the erection of stone buildings, the drafting of hieroglyphic texts ... As many remains whose astronomical orientation or content is detailed within the 2006 calendar, produced jointly by the Culture Diff 'company and the non-profit organization Les Chemins Buissonniers.
From Atum to Hubble: trip into the cosmos between past and present (AstroEgypto Calendar 2006)Partners : Culture Diff', Les Chemins Buissonniers
This calendar is a collaboration between the Culture Diff' company and the non-profit organization Les Chemins Buissonniers. The goal: spreading the results of the latest research work in the field of Egyptian astronomy - in other words, giving everyone a better understanding of the astronomical orientation or content of several Egyptian remnants. Every one of the twelve months of the year 2006 was an opportunity to present one or more remnants, characteristic(s) of a given historical period.
Here is the list of the topics associated with each month of the year:
The Nabta Playa megaliths or traces of a Neolithic astronomy
The astronomical orientation of the pyramids of Egypt
The creation of the world according to the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts
The first stellar clocks (Sarcophagus of Idy, Asyut)
The heliacal rising of the star of Sirius (el-Lahun Papyrus, Ebers Calendar, ...)
The southern sky of ancient Egypt (Tomb of Senenmut at Deir el-Bahari)
The months of the Egyptian year (Karnak Water Clock)
The constellations of the northern sky (Tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings)
Sunrise in the Land of Egypt (Cenotaph of Seti I in Abydos)
The decanal stars cycle (Carlsberg Papyrus I)
The astronomical orientation of the temple of Isis at Dendera
The round Dendara zodiac
Recent astronomical images, each relating to one of the themes detailed above (the sunrise, the universe, the passage of a comet, the heliacal rising of Sirius, the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades, distant galaxies, ...), have been inserted into the calendar. So that the 2006 calendar is titled: "From Atum to Hubble: trip into the cosmos between past and present. " This calendar is, somehow, the synthesis of our current knowledge about the evolution of Egyptian celestial imagery over the millennia since the Predynastic Period to the Greco-Roman Era. It recounts the evolution of human thought over the past four millennia of history. It reveals the symbolism associated with sunrise in the sky of ancient Egypt, the principle of functioning of the stellar clocks and water clocks, the vision which the ancient Egyptians had about the creation of the universe ; more generally, their knowledge of the sky, of the celestial rhythms, of the successive solar and stellar cycles, of the slow changes in the appearance of the sky over the millennia. This observational astronomy is the basis of modern astronomy.
The Nabta Playa megaliths or traces of a Neolithic astronomy
The astronomical orientation of the pyramids of Egypt
The creation of the world according to the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts
The first stellar clocks (Sarcophagus of Idy, Asyut)
The heliacal rising of the star of Sirius (el-Lahun Papyrus, Ebers Calendar, ...)
The southern sky of ancient Egypt (Tomb of Senenmut at Deir el-Bahari)
The months of the Egyptian year (Karnak Water Clock)
The constellations of the northern sky (Tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings)
Sunrise in the Land of Egypt (Cenotaph of Seti I in Abydos)
The decanal stars cycle (Carlsberg Papyrus I)
The astronomical orientation of the temple of Isis at Dendera
The round Dendara zodiac
Recent astronomical images, each relating to one of the themes detailed above (the sunrise, the universe, the passage of a comet, the heliacal rising of Sirius, the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades, distant galaxies, ...), have been inserted into the calendar. So that the 2006 calendar is titled: "From Atum to Hubble: trip into the cosmos between past and present. " This calendar is, somehow, the synthesis of our current knowledge about the evolution of Egyptian celestial imagery over the millennia since the Predynastic Period to the Greco-Roman Era. It recounts the evolution of human thought over the past four millennia of history. It reveals the symbolism associated with sunrise in the sky of ancient Egypt, the principle of functioning of the stellar clocks and water clocks, the vision which the ancient Egyptians had about the creation of the universe ; more generally, their knowledge of the sky, of the celestial rhythms, of the successive solar and stellar cycles, of the slow changes in the appearance of the sky over the millennia. This observational astronomy is the basis of modern astronomy.
Note : Since it mentions a few of the archaeological remains characterized by a specific astronomical orientation or content, this calendar formed the basis of the Culture Diff' dossier entitled Making up an Astro-Egyptological database. Within this folder will be gradually introduced the whole Egyptian remains whose astronomical orientation or content has been studied by Astronomers and Egyptologists.
Additional Resources
(AstroEgypto) Making up an Astro-Egyptological database
(AstroEgypto) The astronomical orientation of the pyramids of Egypt
(AstroEgypto) The sky of ancient Egypt : stellar clocks, water clocks and astronomical ceilings
(AstroEgypto) The Egyptian decans : mythical stars
(AstroEgypto) The rising of the Sun in ancient Egypt : a daily recreation
(AstroEgypto) The heliacal rising of Sirius in ancient Egypt : a source of historical dating
(AstroEgypto) The round Dendara zodiac. The temples of Isis and Hathor.
(AstroEgypto) The creation of the world : ancient Egyptian myths and scientific reality
(AstroEgypto) Making up an Astro-Egyptological database
(AstroEgypto) The astronomical orientation of the pyramids of Egypt
(AstroEgypto) The sky of ancient Egypt : stellar clocks, water clocks and astronomical ceilings
(AstroEgypto) The Egyptian decans : mythical stars
(AstroEgypto) The rising of the Sun in ancient Egypt : a daily recreation
(AstroEgypto) The heliacal rising of Sirius in ancient Egypt : a source of historical dating
(AstroEgypto) The round Dendara zodiac. The temples of Isis and Hathor.
(AstroEgypto) The creation of the world : ancient Egyptian myths and scientific reality