DCSAEAT (= Digitization and Complete Study of the Ancient Egyptian Astronomical Texts) is one of the Research Projects of the Hellenic Institute of Egyptology, aiming to safeguard, promote and study in depth the pharaonic astronomical and cosmographic lore, pertaining to ancient Northern African Skies. It is performed internationally [Partners: the Institute (Dr Dr Alicia Maravelia) and the Writing & Scripts Centre of Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Dr Ahmed Mansour)], in (voluntary) collaboration with several colleagues, graduate– and PhD–students from Greece, Egypt, New Zealand, Poland and Italy. The AEAT is a corpus of antique and interesting testimonies about the astronomical heritage and knowledge of ancient Egyptian culture, imbued with a strong metaphysical and religious background of cosmic metaphors/allegories, through which imp
ortant pre– or proto–scientific knowledge was presented and ancient skyscapes were interestingly mapped. Since the eras of the most ancient funerary texts (PT, CT) and the «Books of the Hereafter», the Diagonal and Ramesside Star Clocks, the Decanal Transit Clocks, various astronomical ceilings in royal and private tombs and temples, zodiacs, calendars, astronomical instruments (including: typical «kits» of ancient priests–astronomers with mrxt and bay n imy-wnwt; clepsydrae; sundials), the accumulation and development of astronomical and cosmographic lore was continuous. Our Project aims at the complete and methodological study of all extant AEAT detected in monuments, epigraphic sources and artefacts, extending the outstanding but outdated work by Neugebauer & Parker [EAT], collecting/classifying all modern literature and knowledge pertaining thereto, building interactive Database(s), digitizing/reproducing/documenting/cataloging/exhibiting the most important texts, publishing a Series of splendid volumes with rich iconography, and training students to study ancient Egyptian/African sky–lore and heritage. Currently our Database contains ~ 200 entries and a rich bibliography [see Fig. Upper Right], both of which are continuously extended and updated, in order to include all known astronomical texts and related references.
Selected Bibliography
Belmonte, J.–A. & Shaltout, M.A.M. (eds): In Search of Cosmic Order: Selected Essays on Egyptian Archaeoastronomy, Cairo (SCA Press) 2009. || Belmonte, J.–A. & Lull, J.: Astronomy of Ancient Egypt: A Cultural Perspective, Switzerland (Springer / Historical and Cultural Astronomy) 2023. || EAT = Neugebauer, O. & Parker, R.A.: Egyptian Astronomical Texts, I. The Early Decans; II. The Ramesside Star Clocks; III. Decans, Planets, Constellations & Zodiacs / Plates, Providence RI (Brown University Press) 1960-1969. || Graur, O.: «The Ancient Egyptian Personification of the Milky Way as the Sky–Goddess Nut: An Astronomical and Cross–Cultural Analysis», Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage 271, 2024, 28-45 || Maravelia, A.: «The Stellar Horizon of Khufu: Archaeoastronomy, Egyptology … and Some Imaginary Scenaria», Basel Egyptology Prize 1: Junior Research in Egyptian History, Archaeology, and Philology (Bickel, S. & Loprieno, A., eds), Basel (Schwabe & Co – Verlag / Ægyptiaca Helvetica 17) 2003, 55-74. || Maravelia, A.: «Cosmic Space and Archetypal Time: Depictions of the Sky–Goddess Nūt in Three Royal Tombs of the New Kingdom and her Relation to the Milky Way», Göttinger Miszellen 197, 2003, 55-72. || Maravelia, A. & Shaltout, M.A.M.: «Illumination of the Sacrarium in the Great Temple at Abu Simbel, its Astronomical Explanation, and Some Hints on the Possible Stellar Orientation of the Small Temple», Ad Astra per Aspera et per Ludum: European Archaeoastronomy and the Orientation of Monuments in the Mediterranean Basin: Papers from a Session, held at the European Association of Archaeologists 8th Annual Meeting in Thessaloniki 2002 (Maravelia, A., ed.), Oxford (Archaeopress / BAR International Series 1154) 2003, 7-29. || Maravelia, A.: Les astres dans les textes religieux en Égypte antique et dans les Hymnes Orphiques, Oxford (Archaeopress / BAR International Series 1527) 2006. || Maravelia, A.: «La loi universelle et le temps selon les Orphiques et selon les Égyptiens», Actes du 9e Congrès International des Égyptologues I-II (Goyon, J.–C. & Cardin, C., eds), Leuven (Peeters / OLA 1502) 2007, 1243-1250. || Maravelia, A.: «“@wn ntry, iwaw nHH”: Some Astronomical Hieroglyphs and their Cosmographic and Calligraphic Significance», Abgadiyāt 2, 2007, 36-50. || Maravelia, A. & Shaltout, M.A.M.: «The Great Temples of Thebes and the Sunrise in the Winter Solstice: Applying Modern Archaeoastronomical Techniques to study the Ancient Egyptian Mansions of Millions of Years», The Temples of Millions of Years and the Royal Power at Thebes in the New Kingdom: Science and New Technologies applied to Archaeology (Leblanc, C. & Zaki, G. eds), Memnonia: Cahier Supplémentaire 2, Cairo 2011, 283-295 & Pls LVII-LX. || Maravelia, A.: «The Function and Importance of Some Special Categories of Stars in the Ancient Egyptian Funerary Texts, 1: AxAx– and I Ad–Stars», Proceedings of the 11th International Congress of Egyptologists (Florence 23-30 August 2015) (Guidotti, M.–C. & Rosati, G., eds), Oxford (Archaeopress Egyptology 19) 2017, 368-376. || Maravelia, A.: «Smart Informatics and Egyptology: A Modern Inter–Disciplinary Forum studying an Ancient Culture of Pre– and Proto–Scientific Logistics and Intelligence», Proceedings of the 8th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Information Systems ICICIS 2017, December 5-7 2017 I (Roushdy, M. et al., eds), Cairo (cAin Shams) 2017, 11-20. || Maravelia, A.: «Of Eternity, Everlastingness and Stars: Notions of Time, Space, Duration and the Firmament in the Pyramid and Coffin Texts», Time and Space at Issue in Ancient Egypt (Chantrain, G. & Winand, J., eds), Hamburg (Lingua Ægyptia / Studia Monographica 19), 2018, 81-110. || Maravelia, A. & Shaltout, M.A.M.: «The Influence of the Solar Activity and of the Nile Flooding on the Ancient Egyptian Culture», Environment and Religion in Ancient and Coptic Egypt: Sensing the Cosmos through the Eyes of the Divine (Maravelia, A. & Guilhou, N., eds), Oxford (Archaeopress Egyptology 30) 2020, 217-242. || Maravelia, A.: «The Function and Importance of Some Special Categories of Stars in the Ancient Egyptian Funerary Texts, 2: The Nature of the %bA Waty, the WaA– and the Nxxw–Star(s)», Environment and Religion in Ancient and Coptic Egypt: Sensing the Cosmos through the Eyes of the Divine (Maravelia, A. & Guilhou, N., eds), Oxford (Archaeopress Egyptology 30) 2020, 243-256. || von Bomhard, A.–S.: Le calendrier égyptien: Une œuvre d’éternité, London (Periplus) 2000. || von Bomhard, A.–S.: «The Genesis of the Stars in Ancient Egypt, according to the Naos of the Decades», Liber Amicorum – Speculum Siderum: Nūt Astrophoros: Papers Presented to Alicia Maravelia (Guilhou, N., ed.), Oxford (Archaeopress Egyptology 17) 2016, 123-138.
