作者：Nahla Hoballah 11 年以前
354
Astronomical Ceilings
The ancient Egyptians meticulously designed their ceilings to reflect the sky as accurately as possible. They illustrated astronomical elements such as the Foreleg constellation, now known as the Big Dipper, and integrated various groups of stars and planets.
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Astronomical Ceilings The Foreleg is the only one that exists in the modern sky and is called the Plough or Big Dipper However, its possition has changed The stars are divided into 2 groups Stars in the north who don't rise or set (circumpolar group) Stars in the south who rise and set (decans) The representation of circupolar group & number of figures change However, 3 characters don't change (the foreleg, hippopotamus & the mooring post) The circumpolar group is situated in the northern half of the ceiling They don't rise or set but rotate around the north celestial pole Circumpolar group is a group of stars or constelation with particular behavior when observed from Egypt Planets & decans occupy the southern part of the ceiling The decans are interpersed with two groups of planets 3 plantes have orbits outside the earth Between the ordinary and triangle dicans (Mars, Jupiter & Saturn) 2 planets whose orbit is inside that of the earth, the morning & evening stars Follow the triangle decans (Mercury and Vinus) The calendar is not present in the ceilings but the stars and their order are The diagonal star tables record stars performing a particular action in order throughout the year The 1st major element is a list of stars known as decans The number of decans change but their order doesn't change they are divided into 2 groups named Ordinary & triangle decans 11 or 12 triangle decans there are 36 ordinary decans How they decorated the ceilings By the new kingdom, they used more representative designs In the earlier times, they painted the ceiling blue and painted yellow five pointed stars The ancient Egyptians tryed to keep the design of the ceilings as close as possible to the sky
