Ancient Egyptians have looked to the stars for guidance and knowledge for years.

Audience members learned how Egyptians depended on the sky during a lecture “Bring the Sky Down to Earth: Astronomy in Ancient Egypt” on Wednesday.

This presentation was a part of the ongoing lecture series “A Futuristic Look Through Ancient Lenses: A Symposium on Ancient Egypt.”

Wafeek Wahby, a professor of technology and an organizer for the symposium, said people often relied on stars.

“Stars are fascinating and have been fascinating to people since the dawn of history,” Wahby said. “Even today you can mention the word ‘star’ and get millions of

responses.”

David Linton, physics and astronomy professor, said the Egyptians used the stars to predict flooding, start a calendar and align

buildings.

The Egyptian priest watched the skies for the appearance of the star Sirius, one of the brightest stars in the sky, which would rise at about July.

The Egyptians associated Sirius with the goddess Isis, the Egyptian goddess of magic and giver of life and agriculture.

“Fore-telling when it was going to happen was an important task that was given over to the priesthood,” Linton said. “They found an astronomical association, and that was the rising of Sirius.”

After the flooding, the planting season would start, which is why the rising of Sirius was so important to the Egyptians, Linton said.

“The flooding of the Nile River was vital to the survival of the civilization,” Linton said. “It was the most important annual event in Egypt.”

The Egyptians also used this star to start their calendar. The Egyptian calendar started with the flood and consisted of 12 months with 30 days and a five-day feasting period. The calendar included three seasons: the season of the flooding of the Nile, the season of cultivation and the season of the harvest.

Every four years, there would be a missing day that caused problems with the calendar.

Because the start of the flood varied, the calendar was flawed and was eventually replaced.

Despite the calendar, the priest still relied on the appearance of Sirius to predict the start of the flood.

Linton also told the audience how the Egyptians would align their buildings to the North based on the stars.

They would build their buildings on what they believed was the North-South line.

Linton said today archeologist can tell when a building was built based on the deviation for the line.

Anna Percival, a freshman communication studies major, said she found the presentation interesting because she learned something new.

“I thought it was interesting that the Egyptians built buildings in relations to the stars,” Percival said.

Linton said he thought the presentation went well and found the subject fascinating. He said he thought the audience was attentive and enjoyed it.

Samantha McDaniel can

or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.