'Exciting' New Insight Into Ancient Egyptian Astronomy and Mythology
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An astrophysicist has shed new light on how the ancient Egyptians viewed our galaxy thousands of years ago.
In an "exciting" study published in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, Or Graur with the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom, has revealed how the Milky Way may have been linked to the ancient Egyptian sky goddess Nut.
"This [study] is a new way to look at the sky goddess and at the way astronomy may have been used by the ancient Egyptians," Graur told Newsweek.
The Egyptians had an advanced understanding of astronomy for their time. They cataloged stars, mapped constellations, tracked the movements of celestial bodies like the sun and moon, and created the concept of a 365-day calendar, among other achievements. Further, the Egyptians wove the workings of the night sky into many aspects of their culture and mythology.
For most of humanity, prior to modern light pollution, the visible band of our galaxy was one of the most distinctive features in the night sky. Most, if not all, cultures have a specific name and origin story for it. But despite the ancient Egyptians' interest in the night sky, the name and role of the Milky Way in their culture remain unclear.
One suggestion previously proposed by experts is the Milky Way was seen by the Egyptians as a celestial manifestation of Nut. In the latest study, Graur set out to determine whether or not this was the case and if the goddess could be linked to our galaxy.
It was already clear that Nut played a key role in ancient Egyptian cosmology, with the goddess often depicted arched over her brother, Geb—and sometimes studded with stars.
"In Egyptian cosmology, the world, which consisted of Egypt and its immediate neighbors, was surrounded by infinite, inert waters," Graur wrote in the study. "The Earth, personified by the god Geb, was protected from the encroaching waters by the sky, personified by Geb's sister and consort, Nut, who was held aloft by the atmosphere, represented by their father, Shu."
Nut also played an important role in the Egyptian conception of the solar cycle, in which the sun is ferried by boat across the water of the sky from dawn to dusk. It was believed that Nut swallows the sun as it sets before giving birth to it once more when it rises.
Graur is an astrophysicist, not an Egyptologist, but the scholar came across Nut while investigating the many names and creation stories different cultures have for the Milky Way during research for an upcoming book on galaxies.
"In the case of ancient Egypt, that led me to read the original articles on Nut and the Milky Way," Graur told Newsweek.
The researcher was not convinced by the arguments made by the original Egyptologists, so he decided to try and test the link between Nut and the Milky Way using modern astronomical simulations of the night sky, in addition to studying the goddess' description in as many Egyptian texts as possible.
These investigations drew from a rich collection of ancient Egyptian sources, with the most relevant information in this case found in the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts and Book of Nut.
"None of the previous studies had used the Book of Nut, which turned out to contain the most important link between Nut and the Milky Way," Graur said.
The astronomical simulations Graur ran showed what the night sky would have looked like in ancient Egyptian times.
"Then, as today, the Milky Way's appearance changed as it rose and set throughout the night, as well as from one season to the next," Graur wrote in Scientific American. "In the winter, it would cross the sky diagonally from the southeast to the northwest, whereas in the summer, its orientation would flip so that it arched from the northeast to the southwest."
Combining the Egyptian texts and astronomical simulations led Graur to propose that there could have been a link between Nut and the Milky Way, although his argument differs to previously suggested hypotheses.
"As opposed to previous attempts to link them, I don't think the Milky Way is Nut—i.e., a manifestation of her," Graur told Newsweek. "Instead, I think the Milky Way helped the ancient Egyptians see Nut fulfilling her role as the sky."
In the paper, the researcher proposes that the description of the goddess in the Book of Nut is consistent with the appearance of the Milky Way in the night sky—her head and groin associated with the western and eastern horizons, respectively.
Graur argues that Nut's cosmological roles (swallowing and giving birth to the sun, for example) require her to be ever-present and static in the night sky.
"As a consequence, Nut's body could never be mapped onto the Milky Way. If it were, then she would be seen to rise and set with the Milky Way instead of remaining fixed to the horizons," Graur told Scientific American.
Instead, the researcher proposes that the summer and winter orientations of the Milky Way could be seen as figurative markers of Nut's torso (or backbone) and her arms, respectively—a reminder of her constant presence in the sky.
"During the winter, the Milky Way highlighted Nut's outstretched arms, while during the summer it sketched out her backbone (or torso)," Graur told Newsweek. "You can think of the Milky Way as a spotlight illuminating different parts of Nut (the sky) throughout the year."
Graur said the latest study does not provide definitive proof that Nut was linked to the Milky Way in ancient Egypt—it is only one interpretation. But he said his research also fits well into a larger framework of Milky Way creation stories across cultures.
"The more I research the creation stories of the Milky Way, the more similarities I find between cultures around the world and throughout time," Graur said. "There's something deeply, fundamentally human about the way in which we think of the Milky Way."
"This paper is an exciting start to a larger project to catalogue and study the multicultural mythology of the Milky Way," he said in a press release.
Update 4/10/24, 4:39 p.m. ET: This article was updated to clarify that a reference to the western and eastern horizons refers to the night sky.
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