The Legend And The Sky

The Egyptians did not believe that the sun and stars were bodies in space, instead believing that they were gods that lived in the sky during the day and died each time they left the sky. The sun, moon, and stars would travel through their afterlife, called the Duat, and be born again each time they reappeared (Parker, 55-56). They had the same constellations as the Greeks, except they believed them to be Egyptian gods (Chatley, 123-124). For example, the Sun was believed to be the god Ra, and Sirius was the goddess Sopdet or Sothis with her appearance coinciding with the rise and fall of the Nile (Parker, 52). The planets that are visible from Earth were

Throughout our existence, mankind has looked up to the stars with a fantastical wonderment that excites a feeling of the unknown. In order to understand the heavens above us, ancient cultures created grand mythologies utilizing valiant heroes, gods, and life practices and then imbedded these stories into the stars in the form of constellations. One of these cultures is the Navajo Native American tribe that resided in the southwest region of the United States. By viewing these constellations and the myths behind them, we can learn about what they Navajo held scared and how they viewed the world around them.

Long ago, before you and I, the sun shone always. There was no night, and the sun always watched over his people smiling no matter the weather. The people were grateful for their everlasting daylight and held festivals for the sun monthly. During these festivals, there were cheerful songs and poems and the people danced in the most beautiful way. But, one of the festivals, the sun vanished and the sky became black. Confused, the people went to their town’s oracle, Ona, for answers.

I have now entered the last week of the conclusion of my reading goal of Legend. During this week I have read the last pages, which are 260-305. Day has now started to dream about when he was younger. He dreamed about the time he and his and brother were playing street hockey with a paper ball and he accidentally threw a ball and hit a police officer in the face. The officer then beat Day really bad and didn’t stop until Day’s mom and John offered him their family’s savings, as well as taking the chicken that Day’s mom was preparing for dinner. John then scolded Day for looking at the officer defiantly, as he explained that this is why the police officer acted the way that he did. As time has passed Thomas invited June to a move, and June

To the Egyptians the sky was a divinity described as Nut. She over and over again exposed as a cow reputation over the earth, her eyes being the sun and the moon. She is reserved from declining to earth by Shu, who was the God of air, and wind, or by a sphere of a high mountain. As this fantastic cow, she furnish delivery to the sun daily The sun would journey in the ‘Solar Barque’ diagonally, Nut's star enclosed stomach, which was a huge outer space ocean. He is frequently seen receptiveness on one jostle, with a lap twisted in the direction of the sky; this is reprehensive of the mountain and gorge of the earth. Green plants would develop from Geb's coffee or red cadaver.

Imagine living in a world where everything is ruled by how the night sky looked. As the sun starts to set, the sky starts to get illuminated not by one, but by millions and millions of other stars! This is what the Aztecs and the Mayas saw every night. Both the Aztec and the Maya were a powerful and advanced civilization that were created separately from the Western European civilizations and did an amazing job doing so. Just like many other Ancient Civilizations the night sky plays a significant role in their society. Astronomy, Religion, culture and architecture are all aligned the stars.

Though Zeus condemned Atlas to hold the heavens apart from the earth, Atlas was able to “become the god who turns the heavens on their axis, causing the stars to revolve.” (“ATLAS”) His close relations with the heavens made people believe that he had “superior knowledge of the stars and constellations.” (Roman 93) This belief was furthered when Atlas’s children died and became constellations. His son, Hyas, “was killed by a lion and became the constellation Aquarius, and the lion became the constellation Leo…His grieving sisters were transformed into the Pleiades constellation.” (Roman 92) Even more, Atlas himself is represented as the constellation Kneeler. (“ATLAS”) Thus, it is no surprise that Atlas, “the father of many constellations,” is also seen as the father of astronomy.

The unique culture of ancient Egypt has attracted a great deal of attention in recent times due in no small part to the discovery of written documentation found entombed within the pyramids. Piecing together the elements of Egyptian myth, like reuniting the parts of Osiris’ scattered body, has proven an ambitious undertaking for scholars, historians and theologians alike. The Egyptian Book of the Dead is the best and most comprehensive volume of funerary texts available for present study. It is known to include and expound upon essential knowledge found in the Pyramid Texts, the “oldest epigraphic source of knowledge of the religion of dynastic Egypt”

Astronomy started many beliefs that we have today such as creationism. Mesopotamians believed that many gods controlled life. They believed that Enki was the God of water, and that he controls the flow of the Euphrates and Tigris, on which Mesopotamians relied on for survival.

Religion influenced every aspect of the Egyptians life. The Egyptians had a polytheistic view which involved hundreds of various gods and goddesses. Osiris, the fertility god of the Nile, was the most prominent religious figure in ancient Egypt. Egyptians had a myth of fertility and life after death. The myth is that Osiris had been killed by his brother, Seth, who cut his body into pieces and put them all across Egypt. The widow of Osiris found all the pieces and put them in cloth; by doing this he was resurrected so he could father Horus, the Nile floods resumed, and vegetation revived. Because of this Osiris cult, Seth was considered the god of brutality and disorder, and that Osiris was the king of the deceased in the afterlife. It was

In Egyptian myths,

According to ancient Egyptian belief, the primordial hillock first emerged from of the primeval waters of chaos in the land of Djanet, now know as the city of Thebes. This location was also believed to be the sacred burial grounds of the Ogdoad, enriching the land with a celestial power. It is here that we find the mortuary temple of Ramesses III, Medinet Habu. The pharaohs of the New Kingdom constructed these elaborate temples in order to honor themselves after death and unite with the divine world through cult practices. Modeled after the mortuary temple of Ramses II, Medinet Habu has served a range of purposes. It’s hosted the visiting gods of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu during the Festival of the Valley, it served as the site of history’s first documented protest during the food shortages and economic turmoil that plagued the land during the 29th year of Ramesses III’s reign, and when the Libyans invaded Thebes it served as a refuge for the fleeing residents. However, most importantly, this mortuary temple served as an earthly representation of cosmic structure, function, and regeneration. In essence, it symbolized a passage through the cosmic lifecycle , and via cult practice served as a portal into the divine world. This paper will examine the architectural structure and its symbolic importance to the cosmology of the ancient Egyptians. Further, it will explore the ideological implications of the text and imagery depicted throughout the temple. Lastly, it will analyze the

Egyptians needed a way to understand the phenomenon of the sun due to their lack of scientific knowledge. They tended to use animals to describe certain characteristics of a god. This was especially the case with the ones they cannot see. “Thebes celebrated a different major god—Amun, the “Hidden One”—with powers so great he could not be visualized, yet because he had to be represented in some way in order to pay him homage, he was depicted as a man with a tall ostrich plume crown.” (Brier, Pg. 36).

Since the beginning of recorded civilization, stars played a huge role in religion and proved vital to routing. The invention of the telescope, the discovery of the “laws of motion” and gravity in the 17th century prompted the

Since the first Egyptian farmers discovered the annual reappearance of Sirius just before dawn a few days before the yearly rising of the Nile, ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean have sought to explain the movements of the heavens as a sort of calendar to help guide them conduct earthly activities. Counting phases of the moon or observing the annual variations of day length could, after many years' collection of observations, serve as vital indicators for planting and harvesting times, safe or stormy season for sailing, or time to bring the flocks from winter to summer pastures. With our millennia of such observation behind us, we sometimes forget that seeing and recording anything less obvious than