This is the transcript of my Youtube video with the same

title.

The ancient Egyptian calendar was a solar calendar

having a fixed 365 days per year. Now the Earth revolves
around the Sun at almost exactly 365.256363004 days,
and unlike other calendars that have leap years wherein
the discrepancy is corrected every certain period of time,
the Egyptian calendar does not compensate for the
0.256363004 of a day difference every year. This means
the Egyptian New Year is observed one day earlier, or
slides back one day, every approximately 4 years.

The Sothic cycle is a period of about 1,461 Egyptian

calendar years of exactly 365 days each which is
equivalent to about 1,460 solar years averaging 365.25
days each. At the end of one complete Sothic cycle, the
calendar having 365 days a year - loses enough time that
the start of its year, or its New Year, once again coincides
with the heliacal rising of Sopdet (Egyptian name) or
Sothis (Greek and Latin name) which Egyptologists
associate with the star Sirius.

I said the Sothic cycle is about 1,460 solar years because

the start of a new Sothic cycle depends on actual
observation of the star rise of Sopdet falling on the day
before the Egyptian New Year’s day. And the precession
of Earth’s equinoxes causes the date of the heliacal rise of
stars to move forward slowly in time. For example, the star
rise of Sirius was June 18 Gregorian calendar in 3500 BC,
but was June 30 Gregorian calendar in 2000 BC, or an
advance of 12 days in a period of only 1500 years, which
by the way is just 40 years more than the supposed 1,460
years Sothic cycle. Because of this, the actual observed
period of the Sothic cycle should be less than the
calculated and presumed 1,460 solar years.

The Egyptians call the start of a new Sothic cycle a Great

or Divine Year and it corresponds to the life cycle of the
sacred Phoenix or the Bennu of Heliopolis, which is a
symbol of rebirth. Now the first month of the Egyptian
calendar is Thoth, which is ‘by name only’, the first month
of the flooding season which the Egyptians call Akhet.
I said ‘by name only’ because this becomes true solely at
the start of the Sothic cycle when the first day of the first
month of Thoth starts on the heliacal rise of Sopdet. Most
scholars agree that the Egyptian day began at dawn,
before the rising of the Sun, rather than sunrise. And the
heliacal rise of Sopdet is sighted during this time. Thus the
Sothic rise falling on the first day of Thoth marks both the
end of the previous Sothic cycle and the start of a new
one.

The concept of a Sothic year comes to us via a Roman

author named Censorinus. In 238 AD he wrote that 99
years before (or in 139 AD), a Great Year began on the
Egyptian calendar, which is based on the motions of
Sirius, the Dog Star, and that it is 1460 years long.
Astronomical calculation definitely dates this heliacal rising
to July 20, 139 AD, Julian calendar. Theon of Alexandria,
who lived a century after Censorinus, agreed with him,
and declared that the previous Sothic cycle began with the
"Era of Menophres" in 1322-1321 BC, or exactly 1460
years before July 20, 139 AD.

Armed with that information, the Egyptologists looked for a

pharaoh named Menophres. They settled on Ramesses I,
because one of his other names was Menpehtire. Since
Ramses is credited with only a one-year reign, both he
and the beginning of the 19th Dynasty were initially
pegged at 1321 BC although it has now been revised to
1292 BC.

The earliest record of the start of the Sothic cycle can be

found in the ivory tablet of Djer, the third Pharaoh of the
First Dynasty of ancient Egypt whose capital was in Thinis.
This heliacal rise was dated by Egyptologists on July 17,
2773 BC Julian calendar. However, this date is too late for
Djer's reign which is dated circa 3000 BC.

And this is a big problem, because the Sothic cycle was

used for absolute dating of the Egyptian Chronology, not
just for the 19th Dynasty under Ramesses I which I
discussed earlier, but also for the 18th Dynasty and the
12th Dynasty. And if the Sothic rise calculation for Djer’s
reign is too late, then this means the Sothic rise
calculation used for dating the other dynasties may be
faulty as well. In my previous video titled ‘Sothis is
Aldebaran, the Eye of Ra & the red Sirius is Ain, the Eye
of Horus - the two Eyes of Taurus’ I discussed in detail the
imagery found in the ivory tablet of Djer as follows:

“Thus in summary, the ivory tablet of Djer is telling us that the heliacal rise
of Sopdet-Isis or Aldebaran (the sun disc of Ra between two horns whose
star rise signals the start of the flooding season) happened in the
constellation Taurus (the stooping bull representing Apis, son of Hathor)
while Venus (the feather of Maat-Isis representing Horus) was between the
two horns of Taurus on the day a new Sothic cycle started.”

The actual location of Thinis, the capital of the First

Dynasty Pharaoh Djer, remains undiscovered. So I will be
using the coordinates of the center of a total solar eclipse
located in Egypt instead. This eclipse, I believe, occurred
sometime during Djer’s reign. Using Stellarium and setting
the Algorithm of delta T to Chapront-Touze & Chapront
(1991), the location at coordinates: 27° 31' 57.0" N, 33° 10'
59.0"E, the date to May 15, 2817 BC (or -2816 in
astronomical year numbering) and at 2:16 UTC, one can
see the heliacal rise of Aldebaran.
Setting the time at 2:34 UTC, one can see Venus rising
from the horizon. According to Stellarium, its heliacal rise
should have happened on May 21 still or 6 days later.
However, looking at Venus' visual magnitude that time, it
was already at 0.73, or below magnitude 1 which is the
limit for naked eye visibility during a total solar eclipse, and
is similar to the day sky during early dawn. So it may be
possible that May 15 was also the heliacal rise of Venus
coinciding with Aldebaran - a not so common coincidence.
Note also that the ivory tablet of Djer placed the Ma’at
feather (representing Venus) below that of the sun of Ra
(representing Sopdet or Aldebaran). This implies that the
visible rising of Venus above the horizon followed that of
Aldebaran which was actually the case on May 15, 2817
BC.
Setting the time at 15:33:33 UTC, one can see a total
solar eclipse just 30 minutes before sunset, allowing
Mercury to be visible during daytime.
The center of the eclipse was and still is part of Egypt, and
I believe this is the true location of Thinis.
Note also that this eclipse was positioned at the left side of
the club of Orion, while Orion and his club was positioned
at the left side of Taurus.
Now look again at the ivory tablet of Djer, there one will
see a club at the left side of Taurus, or the stooping cow.
Furthermore, at the bottom left side of the club, one will
see a circle with an inclined cross inside.
The club at the left side of the stooping cow in the ivory
tablet, is of course the club of Orion. While the circled
cross symbol at the bottom left side of the club represents
the solar eclipse which happened at the left side of Orion’s
club. This circled cross is below the sun of Ra and the
Ma’at feather implying that the eclipse happened after the
heliacal rise of both Aldebaran and Venus on that same
day and which actually was the case.

Now note the arm and hand pointing at the club in the
ivory tablet, this arm is the right arm of Auriga which is
also pointing at Orion’s club in the sky. Auriga is often
portrayed as a charioteer, and the square (with 9 smaller
squares inside) represents his chariot on top of the circled
cross (the eclipsed sun) serving as its wheel.
The chariot on top of a circled cross wheel is a very
ancient symbolism. The 9 smaller squares inside the
square chariot represents the 9 deities of the Ennead,
namely, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys,
and Horus the Elder; while the sun god Atum is
represented by the circled cross.
Now notice the falcon sitting on top of two boxes joined or
stacked together.
The two conjoined boxes represent the conjoined twins,
Castor and Pollux of Gemini, and the falcon sitting on top
of the boxes or the foreground of Gemini represents the
falcon god Horus who was represented by Mercury that
day and which momentarily appeared in Gemini during the
time of the eclipse. Apparently, Horus is represented not
just by Venus, but also by Mercury as well, which are the
two planets closer to the Sun than Earth.

I believe May 15, 2817 BC is the correct date of the

earliest recorded heliacal rise of Sopdet, and was the
Egyptian calendar’s first ever New Year’s day. Note
however that May 15, 2817 BC is about 44 years earlier
than the July 17, 2773 BC date calculated for the star rise
of Sopdet during Djer’s reign based on Censorinus’
account. And this is understandable after all almost 3,000
years have passed between the first recorded Sothic cycle
and the time of Censorinus.

Because the precession of the equinoxes advances the

date of the heliacal rise of stars slowly over a period of
time, the Egyptians cannot use a fixed period of 1,460
solar years to mark the end of a Sothic cycle. So the
Egyptians must use another celestial sign to mark its end,
and this marker should coincide with the star rise of
Sopdet for the effect of the precession on both the
celestial marker and the star rise of Sopdet to match. The
celestial sign that coincided with the star rise of Sopdet in
May 15, 2817 BC was the solar eclipse. And a solar
eclipse coinciding with the heliacal rise of Sopdet can be
calculated or predicted because it occurs regularly over a
fixed period of time.

The orbit of the Moon is inclined with respect to the orbit of

the Sun as seen from the Earth. And a lunar node is either
of the two orbital nodes of the Moon, that is, the two
opposite points at which the orbit of the Moon intersects
the orbit of the Sun. A lunar eclipse can occur only when
the full Moon is near either lunar node (within 11° 38'
ecliptic longitude), while a solar eclipse can occur only
when the new Moon is near either lunar node (within 17°
25').

Now notice the Eye of Ra, a symbol of Sopdet,

represented by the red solar disc: below it one can see a
two headed cobra named Wadjet looking at opposite sides
of each other. I believe this two headed cobra represents
the two opposite orbital nodes of the Moon responsible for
solar and lunar eclipses. In Hindu astrology, the two
opposite lunar nodes are named Rahu and Ketu, and they
are both represented as a snake.

Because the Moon has two lunar nodes located opposite

each other, and because the synodic orbital period of the
Moon is about 29.530589 days, two successive eclipses,
one lunar and one solar, happens consecutively and
separated by about 14.7652945 days from each other, or
half the synodic orbital period of the Moon. So for the
ancient Egyptian astronomers, a solar eclipse visible in
Egypt on the same day as the star rise of Sopdet, or a
lunar eclipse visible in Egypt about 15 days earlier, would
be the celestial marker they are looking for to declare the
end of the current Sothic cycle and declare the beginning
of a new one.

A lunar eclipse visible in Egypt using the same

coordinates which I used for Djer’s Sothic rise observation
was observed on May 8, 1385 BC at 21:00 UTC, or about
15 days before the heliacal rise of Sopdet on May 23 at
2:00 UTC of that same year.
And this is why the Egyptian astronomers declared May
23, 1385 BC as the end of their current Sothic cycle and
the start of a new one. This new Sothic cycle started
during Menophres’ reign according to Theon of
Alexandria. I discussed this topic in detail in my previous
video titled ‘May 15, 2817 BC was the start of a 523,046
days Sothic cycle & the Sothic rise during Menophres era
was on May 23, 1385 BC’.

Now recorded dates of the star rise of Sopdet with their

corresponding Egyptian day, month, and season, as well
as the regnal year of the Pharaoh at the time of the
heliacal rise, were discovered. And Egyptologists use
these to have absolute dating of those observations, and
therefore, the dates of the regnal years of their
corresponding Pharaohs as well.

The Ebers papyrus tells us that the rising of Sopdet

happened in the 9th regnal year of Djeserkare, the throne
name of Amenhotep I, the second Pharaoh of the 18th
Dynasty. This Sopdet rise was dated by the papyrus on
the eleventh month of Epiphi of the Egyptian calendar
which is also the third month of the Season of Harvest
Shemu, and on the 9th day of the month.

The heliacal rise of Sopdet happens once every year, and

yet only a handful of documents that recorded the heliacal
rise of Sopdet with their corresponding dates and the
regnal year of the Pharaohs were found. The reason I
believe is that the Egyptian astronomers only record the
dates of Sopdet’s heliacal rises whenever an eclipse (both
lunar and solar) was observed in Egypt either during the 5
epagomenal days, or about 15 days before any of the 5
epagomenal days.

The 5 epagomenal days are also known as the 13th and

last month in the Egyptian calendar, and the heliacal rise
of Sopdet happens on the 5th day. Also, the birthdays of 5
deities were celebrated during the 13th month, namely
that of Osiris, Horus the Elder, Set, Nephthys, and Isis,
and I ordered their names according to the order of their
birthdays as observed during the Ptolemaic and Roman
period.

Now remember, two successive eclipses (one lunar and

one solar) happen whenever the New Moon or Full Moon
are near the 2 opposite lunar nodes which are separated
by about 15 days of motion by the Moon around the Earth.
And these two successive eclipses occurring either during
the 5 epagomenal days, or about 15 days before any of
the 5 epagomenal days, are caused by the 2 opposite
lunar nodes in the same, or almost the same position in
the sky that marks the end of a Sothic cycle.
The period of the intercalary month was considered
spiritually dangerous and the Pharaoh performed a ritual
known as "Pacifying Sekhmet" to protect himself and the
world from that god's plague. Apep was the ancient
Egyptian deity who embodied darkness and disorder, and
was thus the opponent of the sun god Ra and Isis-Ma'at
(representing order and truth). Apep was seen as a giant
serpent leading to such titles as Serpent from the Nile and
Evil Dragon. According to his myth, Apep is responsible
for eclipses.

The 5 epagomenal days are already spiritually dangerous

by themselves, but combining any of these days by an
eclipse during or about 15 days earlier, make these days
especially ominous. This is why the Pharaoh has to make
a declaration that in spite of the eclipse, Isis-Ma’at,
represented by Sopdet, succeeded in its heliacal rise on
the 5th day.

One such eclipse, a total lunar eclipse was observed in

Thebes with coordinates 25° 43′ 14″ N, 32° 36′ 37″ E. I
chose Thebes as the observational site because this was
the capital of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep I. The
eclipse occurred on May 2, 1170 BC, or -1169 in
astronomical year numbering, at 18:58 UTC. You can
verify this using Stellarium and by setting the Algorithm of
delta T to Chapront-Touze & Chapront (1991).
A corresponding solar eclipse occurred on May 17, 1170
BC at 7:30 UTC and about 15 days after the total lunar
eclipse that occurred on May 2, 1170 BC. This solar
eclipse was not visible in Egypt, but it occurred on the 1st
day of the 5 epagomenal days, or the birthday of Osiris,
and it was an important omen to the ancient Egyptians.
The heliacal rise of Aldebaran, which I believe to be
Sopdet, was on May 22, 1170 BC at 2:10 UTC, as
observed in Thebes.
Now what is the corresponding Egyptian date of the May
22, 1170 BC heliacal rise of Sopdet as observed in
Thebes? The most recent heliacal rise of Sopdet falling on
the start of a Sothic cycle before this Sopdet rise on May
22, 1170 BC, was on May 23, 1385 BC which I already
mentioned earlier.

The number of days between May 23, 1385 BC and May

22, 1170 BC are 78,527 days. Dividing 78,527 days by
365 days gives the number of Egyptian calendar cycles
between these dates, which is about 215.142465 cycles.
Each cycle of the 365 days Egyptian calendar is
0.256363004 of a day shorter than the actual length of the
solar year which is about 365.256363004 days. Multiplying
215.142465 cycles by the 0.256363004 of a day
discrepancy per cycle gives about 55.154568808 days or
56 whole days which the calendar date of the Sopdet rise
slid backwards from the 365th day of the Egyptian
calendar.

This means the heliacal rise of Sopdet that happened on

May 22, 1170 BC was the 309th day of the Egyptian
calendar. Now each Egyptian month has exactly 30 days
each, so the 309th day falls on the 9th day of the 11th
month of Epiphi of the Egyptian calendar which is also the
third month of the Season of Harvest Shemu, and exactly
as what the Ebers papyrus said. Current Egyptian
chronology dated the 9th year of Amenhotep I to 1516 BC,
while I dated it to 1170 BC instead, this means Egyptian
chronology of the 18th Dynasty (at the very minimum) is
346 years too early. In one of my next videos I will discuss
how to correct this error.