Egyptian temples followed heavenly plans

ANCIENT Egyptian temples were aligned so precisely with astronomical events that people could set their political, economic and religious calendars by them. So finds a study of 650 temples, some dating back to 3000 BC.

For example, New Year coincided with the moment that the winter-solstice sun hit the central sanctuary of the Karnak temple (pictured) in present-day Luxor, says archaeological astronomer Juan Belmonte of the Canaries Astrophysical Institute in Tenerife, Spain.

Hieroglyphs on temple walls have hinted at the use of astronomy in temple architecture, including depictions of the "stretching of the cord" ceremony in which the pharaoh marked out the alignment for the temple with string. But there had been little evidence to support the drawings. Belmonte and Mosalam Shaltout of the Helwan Observatory in Cairo found that the temples are all aligned according to an astronomically significant event, such as a solstice or equinox, or the rising of Sirius, the brightest star in the sky

New Scientist Article

I know this is not news for many people, yet it is nice to see something like this actually studied and confirmed. Its a pretty interesting thing, i wonder though how many of our modern buildings would line up with astronomical events?

reply to post by refuse_orders


I've never understood why there is such a resistance to the possibility that they were. Wouldn't this be an addition to our understanding of their culture rather than a contradiction?

There are signs of and references to many heavenly bodies....

Whats the big deal?

reply to post by SLAYER69


Personally i agree, like i said its no great surprise. I think the main argument was they could not have been that precise for their time and technology. Many seem to presume ancient civilisations were not as advanced and smart as they truly were, at least in my opinion.

reply to post by refuse_orders


Well I'm working on a thread regarding that possibility. I'm stuck at the moment. I'm searching for some key information. Stay tuned.

Lining up a structure so that light on a particular day will shine in a certain way shows a good understanding of the natural world. A number of cultures did this. It can be done without extensive math or an indepth understanding of astronomy etc. You just need to mark the movement of the sun thru the arc of the sky. Which can be done with sticks and stones.

I'm sure it impressed the leaders and peasants alike.

Good and interesting study.

reply to post by SLAYER69


I look forward to it, its a very interesting subject.



reply to post by Hanslune


Your right, it shows real knowledge of natural cycles and that they had great observational skills, also that they were able to put them to practical uses.

[edit on 8/9/09 by refuse_orders]

reply to post by Hanslune


Yea but how do you describe the immense number of stones used in the "20 year" window that the pharoahs are said to have created them in? What about the precise cuts on the sarcophagus'? The depictions of hieroglyphs that resemble light bulbs and helicopters. To me it's just silly to think that they didn't have some kind of lost advanced technology or outside help.

It probably grew out of their need (for the Egyptians) to know when the Nile would begin to flood. A few years of observation would have brought to notice that the rising of certain star was an alert that the flood time was near. Similar associations were made to let people know when to plant and when to expect the onslaught of winter or the Monsoon.

As a wise German archaeologist said, if you lie out under the night sky for a few years you pick up a number of observations and correlations with the rest of natural world.

reply to post by Comfyinsidethebox


You are talking about the pyramids though, not all 650 temples that were studied.

reply to post by Comfyinsidethebox


Howdy CITB

All of these areas have been discussed extensively on the forum...but briefly

Yea but how do you describe the immense number of stones used in the "20 year" window that the pharoahs are said to have created them in?

Hans: I describe them as a lot of stone cut and placed by dedicated people motivated by religion. There are also studies that challenge the huge number of stones. There is hard evidence that some parts of the pyramids are filled with sand.ie the Egyptians honeycombed the structure.

What about the precise cuts on the sarcophagus'?

Hans: Skill and years of bone weary labor. There are documents which related some took years to make.


The depictions of hieroglyphs that resemble light bulbs and helicopters.

Hans: Nope just wishful thinking by fringe believers

To me it's just silly to think that they didn't have some kind of lost advanced technology or outside help.

Hans: CITB I find that usually people say this based on being told to believe this by fringe books and websites. I would recommend reading orthodox material - or better yet this forum. Note in particular the writing s of Byrd, Harte, Essan, Cormac and Kid Kandinsky. Enjoy the journey.

Now back on topic

reply to post by Hanslune


Great reply....

However leaving the more fringe beliefs out, that doesn't prove that they were not a little more advanced than we currently know. Both in the sciences and knowledge of the past. Remember they were closer to it than we are now by as much as 5 or 6 thousand years.

I would propose that their higher priest cast would have horded such knowledge. Understanding that knowledge is power and would have kept it known to but a select few. This could be the reason there are such perceived mystery surrounding such civilizations. Also why there is such little evidence that has survived to the present.

No I'm not a believer in ET giving them knowledge.
[ I do believe in ET though ]

or King tuts I-pod or DVD collection but they were a little more knowledgeable than we know IMHO.

reply to post by SLAYER69


I could not agree more with all of what you said.

It seems to me people are far to quick to discredit "fringe" science, history and other subjects. Yet they forget almost everything we take for granted today was fringe once...

As for the hoarding of information, im sure your right. I think this happens today still, more than we will ever probably know...

I can't stand the way people assume that our ancestors were not as intelligent as we are today. I don't mean that they knew about jet engines, but their capacity for learning was just as strong as it is today.

The ancients knew a lot more than we give them credit for, if common understanding prevailed it would have all ancient people dragging their knuckles and running from loud noises.

One thing the ancients knew very well was astronomy, it was more important to them than we can imagine today. In some religions the gods literally, or in some cases metaphorically, were the stars. They knew the paths they took through the heavens, they could predict the future positions of the stars, phases of the Moon and eclipses.

I would honestly find it hard to believe that Egyptian structures didn't incorporate elements of astronomy either in part or in whole as the purpose of the structure.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/59178461f428.gif[/atsimg]

Source

Egyptian/Mesopotamia Cosmology:

Historians tend to exaggerate the capabilities of ancient Egyptians, when, in fact, they were a practical culture. The development of cosmology in ancient Egypt followed practical lines. Early man's impressions of the night sky formulated into various myths which then later became the core of Egyptian religion.

Since its principal deities were heavenly bodies, a great deal of effort was made by the priesthood to calculate and predict the time and place of their god's appearances. These skills led to the division of the day and night into twelve sections each, the development of a lunar calendar and the development of a solar calendar of 12 30-day months with a special 5-day unit to bring the total to 365 days.

reply to post by refuse_orders


I also wonder why some historians have a hard time with the fact that the ancients used the knowledge of the night sky and aligned their temples and buildings with them.

Our societies now are more material based than stellar based so they do not align them with any stars or other celestial bodies.

Nice article! Not really surprising, since they had a number of important festivals and it would be easy enough to time the day by having the morning (or evening) sun hit a certain mark in the temple. I'd like to see more of this research; which temples were aligned with what.

My guess is that if it was a major "cult temple" devoted to one god that there would be a sunlight marker associated with that day.

I've seen the sun markers used by ancient Native Americans, so I'm not really skeptical of the ability to make these things... or use them.

reply to post by Hanslune

\Helicopter Cartouche

I wouldn't necessarily call it wishful thinking; More so like trying to put together the long lost pieces of a puzzle necessary for our advancement as a species. A step toward understanding that we truly do not know anything and we need to give more credence to our ancestors. Right now i am reading the Bhagavadgita an excerpt from the Mahabharata. It makes mentions of vimanas or flying machines and i believe ancient India shares ties with ancient Egypt. I'm a proponent of the Tower of Babel and we all descended from one race. Say what you'd like and break down my reply how you wish, but the point i am trying to prove still stands. We have no clue what they did have and didn't have in those times, but i for one am not gonna say we now have anything more than they had then.

Howdy CITB

I wouldn't necessarily call it wishful thinking;

Hans: Perhaps the term, willful disregard for knowledge influenced by a desire for the existence of aliens to be proved overwhelming their critical senses, would be a better fit?


More so like trying to put together the long lost pieces of a puzzle necessary for our advancement as a species.


Hans: The palimpest you speak of is part of standard Egyptian statement, a series of panels- it isn't a stand alone plaque. When the translation was first published (I believe in 1883) the Egyptologists then had no difficulty as they knew what the damaged hieroglyphs said and were not influenced by the by chance damaged that looks to us like modern equipment.

A step toward understanding that we truly do not know anything and we need to give more credence to our ancestors.

Hans: I disagree we know a great deal to include knowing that we don't know everything.

Right now i am reading the Bhagavadgita an excerpt from the Mahabharata. It makes mentions of vimanas or flying machines and i believe ancient India shares ties with ancient Egypt.

Hans: Most religions have mentions of flying gods, it doesn't mean they were real. Such notions are not proved in the archaeological record.

I'm a proponent of the Tower of Babel and we all descended from one race.

Hans: We agree we are all Homo Sapiens then, the tower of B story is just that a story to explain, in an non-scientific world, why there are different languages. If it were real it would run counter to the Xian concept of free will.

Say what you'd like and break down my reply how you wish, but the point i am trying to prove still stands.

Hans: I respectfully think not

We have no clue what they did have and didn't have in those times, but i for one am not gonna say we now have anything more than they had then.

Hans: Ah but we DO have clues and hard information as what was going on in those times. Archaeology has given us a good peek into those times

Originally posted by Comfyinsidethebox
Yea but how do you describe the immense number of stones used in the "20 year" window that the pharoahs are said to have created them in?

Um, when did that happen? You are the second person in a week I have heard make that statement. All my life I have repeatedly learned that the pyramids took hell-of-forever to build. Now it's 20 years?

Did I get caught in one of those parallel matrix time-line shift abductions?

the problem was never "proving" the technology involved

the problem was the so called early "experts" and the all the financial means provided for them to "study" the early findings

have to do a bit of cleaning and grave shifting

what do you do to the whole "authorised" and study syllabus in all the top Universities and sacred cows of the fields involved ... do they get to give the funding money back if they openly debunks their early studies ?

it's money and money and more money going to who and from who they wanna get from

sad fact of it all ..... the blind rather remain blind

[edit on 9-9-2009 by third_eye]