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ABSTRACT WHILE we are very well informed about Greek and Babylonian astronomy, almost nothing was known of an Egyptian calculating astronomy until very recently. This situation, however, has

been completely altered by the discovery and investigation of a number of Demotic texts. In the beautiful collection of Egyptian papyri belonging to the Carlsberg Foundation in Copenhagen,

A. Volten found an astronomical text in the Demotic language which he and I have recently edited1. We were able to show that the text deals with a simple scheme for calculating the

beginnings of the months depending on a period of 25 Egyptian years (one Egyptian year being 365 days, this is almost exactly equal to 309 synodical months2). This text belongs to such a

late period as Antoninus Pius (_c_. A.D. 150), it is true; but there are several good reasons for assuming that the same methods were already in use in the Twelfth Dynasty (_c_. 1800 B.C.3).

Thus we know the method by which the Egyptians predicted the phenomena of the moon. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via

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* Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS THE ROSETTA STONE AND THE NEMRUD NOMOS: THE DISCOVERY OF

SIGNIFICANT TEXTUAL AND ASTRONOMICAL SIMILARITIES Article Open access 17 June 2020 ON THE PROBLEM OF ASTRONOMY AND POPULAR PREJUDICES: THE CASE OF ANCIENT ASTRONOMERS AND NASA FUNDING

Article Open access 27 August 2020 A MODEL OF THE COSMOS IN THE ANCIENT GREEK ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM Article Open access 12 March 2021 REFERENCES * Neugebauer, O. und Volten, A.,

"_Untersuchungen zur antiken Astronomie IV. Ein demotischer astronomischer Papyrus_" (_Pap. Carlsberg_ 9). "Quellen u. Studien zur Geschichte d. Mathematik, Astronomie u.

Physik", Abt. B, 4, 383–406 (1938). MATH  Google Scholar  * Cf. also "_Almagest_", 6, 2 (ed. Heiberg, 1, 464). * Cf., for example, the calendar of temple duty from Kahun, _Z.

aegypt. Sprache u. Altertumskunde_, 37, 92 ff. (1899). * Brugsch, H., "_Nouvelles recherches sur la division de l'année des anciens égyptiens, suivies d'un mémoire sur des

observations planétaires consignées dans quatre tablettes égyptiennes en écriture démotique_" (Berlin, 1856) Google Scholar  * Tablet A (Tablet III of Brugsch), Rev. iii, 29 to 33, and

Rev. iv, 30 to Rev. v, 2. The order in which Brugsch arranged the tablets has proved to be incorrect. * Published (but only in part): "_Demotische Papyrus aus den Kgl. Museen zu

Berlin_" (ed. W. Spiegelberg, Leipzig u. Berlin, 1902). Download references AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Institute of Mathematics and Institute of Egyptology,

University, Copenhagen, O. NEUGEBAUER Authors * O. NEUGEBAUER View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and

permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE NEUGEBAUER, O. Egyptian Astronomy. _Nature_ 143, 115–116 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143115a0 Download citation * Published: 01 February

1939 * Issue Date: 21 January 1939 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143115a0 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link

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