Ancient Egyptian Temporal Cycles and Stellar Religion

seasons; the Egyptians, on the other hand, calculate twelve months of thirty days and add five supernumerary days each year, and thus their cycle of seasons always falls on the same dates." Herodotus, Histories, Book II, 4 This idea of cyclicality strongly characterizes the Egyptian mentality, so much so that it comes to permeate their religion and their very life. The deities themselves are subject to cyclical phases: every day, for example, the sun itself dies. It disappears in the West through the gate that leads it to the Afterlife, into the abyss of the Duat, to conduct its eternal battle in the afterlife against its adversary, the serpent Apep. This continuous death and battle is a necessity of purification and regeneration. Once victorious, the sun rises again, proposing in miniature what the creation of the world has been. The hidden Sun, represented with a ram's head and hawk's wings, rises from the Primordial waters of Nun, manifests itself as Khepri, the scarab beetle, the dawn sun, and then is born in the form of a child, the newborn. It can be said that the Egyptians identified four fundamental temporal cycles that are all interconnected with each other, one in relation to the other: Four great cycles mark Egyptian time: the cosmic cycle of the creation of the world and the gods; In this context, let us analyze the Heliopolitan tradition which is the basis of the Pyramid Texts that most interest us, the solar theology from which the fundamental core of the Pyramid Texts was derived. According to this theology, at the beginning of creation there was only Atum with his Nun, then when Atum, the hidden invisible god wants to reveal himself, he emerges from his Nun, the primordial waters, forming the primordial hill and there returns as Kheper-Ra, the sun that is born: Praise and Glory to Atum Praise and glory to Khepri, He who becomes by himself! You culminate in your name of Hill, you become with the name of Scarab Pyramid Texts "Thus spoke the Lord of all: I became and becoming became I became Khepri in becoming he who began to exist in the Beginning" the diurnal cycle The cycle of generation of the World, the birth of the Universe and of all the gods was celebrated by the Egyptians every Day. Every Day the sunrise retraced and recelebrated the birth of the world, after 12 nocturnal hours, a long journey of purification, conquering the demonic powers and affirming its Solar principle, the Sun as Khepri in the form of a ram with fiery wings dragged the sun Khepri who gave birth to a son, the child the newborn day. I am he who created the living Fire I am he whose name is unknown even to the Gods I am Khepri in the morning, Ra at noon, Atum in the evening the annual cycle The daily cycle, like the cosmic one, was repeated, the cycle of life, birth, death and resurrection was repeated with the annual cycle, in which life bloomed with the heliacal rising of Sirius, then Sirius disappeared for 70 days, declined to disappear into nothingness and remained there for 70 days, days of purification in which it remained invisible, then when it reappeared it was united with the Sun God Ra and marked the arrival of the green wave of the Nile and marked the rebirth of life. the cycle of human life which is seen as a parallel of the previous cycles which in turn project onto the human cycle the same purposes of life, death and regeneration. Imperishable Stars Therefore everything has phases, everything has a cycle, everything is under the dominion of time which is the Sun itself that gives life to everything, everything except the imperishable stars. In all this, only one thing remains fixed, immobile, always visible, the imperishable stars, the stars of the North, the Guardians of the World. So for the Egyptians everything is under the dominion of time, time which is the Sun originates everything and makes everything move with cyclical rhythms, but there was a way after death for the pharaoh to ascend to heaven and become himself one of these imperishable and immortal stars outside time, guardians of eternity. This journey of ascension to heaven is that described in the pyramid texts and which allows us to understand some fundamental elements of Egyptian astronomy and especially its religious use. For this reason we have that the Egyptians reported on their sarcophagi the figures of the main stars or constellations, because these main stars or constellations had to help them in their journey in the afterlife to conquer their place in the beyond. In particular we see from the first sarcophagi the highlighting of 4 stars or groups of fundamental constellations that were precisely associated with the mysteries of resurrection: • Sirius identified with Isis • Orion which was identified with Osiris • The Bull's Paw • Nut Why? First it is necessary to specify the magical value of writing in Egyptian culture. A writing for the Egyptians was not only an inanimate signifier but had its own force, generated magical realities, evoked the invoked power. So transcribing the main names of the stars meant evoking those qualities and those forces that the deceased had to assimilate to penetrate into the beyond. Here we have Orion and Isis: You approach the sky like Orion sharp is your soul like Sothis [...] The imperishable stars help the soul to rise to heaven You grasp the arm of the Imperishable Stars Your bones will not be destroyed, your flesh will not be corrupted, O Teti! No limb will be removed from you because you are one of the Gods [...] You belong to the Sparkling ones who serve Ra, who are before the morning star You are born in your feasts of the beginning of the month like the moon while Ra leans on you at the Horizon, O Teti The imperishable stars follow you Prepare yourself until Ra comes, O Teti purify yourself so that you may come out for Ra It will not be empty