The Indestructibles
The Indestructibles (
Terminology
Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson explained the naming as apt metaphor in Egyptian ideology. "Circumpolar stars are a very good metaphor for the afterlife because when viewed, they never seem to set: they simply rotate around the pole star. They are the undying stars, or in Egyptian terminology, the Indestructibles, a perfect destination for the soul of the dead king," he said in 2001.[5]
The context for this is the Egyptian belief that
Astronomy
About 4,500 years ago, the Egyptians believed that the unmovable area the stars encircled by 10 degrees each, was heaven in the sense that it was the place of the afterlife.[7] The pole star at the time was Thuban (Alpha Draconis).[1]
Cosmogony
Egyptians associated those two stars with eternity and the afterlife of a king or pharaoh so that after death, a pharaoh would hope to join those stars.[3] During the Old Kingdom it was thought that only the pharaoh and his family could ascend to heaven.[8]
As Pharaohs were buried in pyramids there were implications for their afterlife and their immortality and consequently the structures were deliberately aligned astronomically. Believing that their kings became stars in the Northern sky after death, Egyptians aligned their pyramids and temples due north toward the "indestructible" stars, giving the departed pharaohs direct access to the northern sky.[3]
Pyramid design
The entrances to all the
A pyramid was a resting place, rather than a tomb, providing the occupant with all the requirements both physical and mystical for the journey of the
The North Shaft of the Kings chamber is also believed to have aligned with Beta Ursae Minoris to facilitate the King's journey as Horus to the stars.[10]
Dr. Kate Spence of the Faculty of Oriental Studies at
The ka statue of Djoser in his tomb at Saqqara was in a serdab (a type of chamber) in the north-eastern base of his pyramid, tilted at 17 degrees to enable it to observe the circumpolar stars through two holes.[9]
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d Ronald A Wells. Christopher Walker (ed.). Astronomy Before the Telescope. p. 35.
- ^ Allen, James P. (2010). Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs (revised second ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 330.
- ^ a b c [email protected], Anthony R. Curtis. "Space Today Online -- Solar System Planet Earth -- Ancient Astronomy". www.spacetoday.org. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
- ^ a b "Ancient Egyptians built pyramids with stars in mind". CBC News. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
- ^ Pyramids Seen as Stairways to Heaven, 14 May 2001 article by science writer Tim Radford for the Guardian
- ^ Ronald A Wells. Christopher Walker (ed.). Astronomy Before the Telescope. pp. 29–32.
- ISBN 9789774243929.
- ISBN 978-0825426575.
- ^ ISBN 978-3643902351.
- ^ Secret doors inside the Great Pyramid
- ^ S2CID 4327498.