Season of the Inundation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Season
of the Inundation – Axt
in hieroglyphs

The Season of the Inundation (the MdC transliteration of the Egyptian term is Axt, and it is occasionally written as Akhet) ^[1] was the first season in the ancient Egyptian calendar. It received its name because the ancient Egyptians marked the beginning of their year by the rising of the Nile flood waters; this event was important to the people because the waters left behind fertile silt and moisture which was the cause of the fertility of the Egyptian nation.

1 Lunar calendar
2 Civil calendar
3 Months
4 References
5 See also

[edit] Lunar calendar

The ancient Egyptians used this name in both their lunar and their civil calendars. The lunar calendar began with the heliacal rising of Sirius, which during the time of the ancient Egyptians occurred from July 17 to 19 (according to the Julian calendar&mdash; in Egypt the Sothic year happens to be of the same length as the Julian); the four months of their lunar calendar are roughly equivalent to the period from the rising of Sirius to the middle of November.

[edit] Civil calendar

The New Year's day of the civil calendar, on the other hand, moved through the seasons over time, by about one day every four years. Therefore, the Season of Inundation does not continuously match any part of the modern calendar.

[edit] Months

The Season of Inundation consisted of the four 30-day months, which are, unless they are simply referred to by number in the ancient Egyptian fashion, called by their latinized Greek names of Thoth, Phaophi, Athyr and Choiak.^[2] It was followed by the Season of the Emergence.

[edit] References

^ Nigel C. Strudwick, Texts from the Pyramid Age, SBL 2005, p.87
^ Marshall Clagett, Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book, Diane 1989, ISBN 0871692147, p.5