binary star

Changing Colors and Scampering Across the Night Sky: What Did the Ancients Say about Sirius?

The astronomical ceiling at the Pronaos, Detail of the first Band west from the center. From left to right: two wind creatures (the winged ram with four heads personifies the south wind), the snake- and frog-headed eight goddesses and gods of the Ogdoad who ruled the cosmos before the creation of the world and Osiris seated on a throne sails across the sky as personification of the full moon accompanied by the seated goddesses Nephtys (left) and Isis on the right (Maat stands near the bow of the ship). Siri
Walter Cruttenden
Walter Cruttenden
January
02
/ 2019
In Egypt, Sirius was the Star of Isis, Isis being the companion and rescuer of the god Osiris. In a very deep way, Osiris was Egypt. His body was believed to be the body of Egypt, an actual overlay upon the land, and he (Egypt) returned to life each year with the flooding of the Nile. What was it that brought this renewal of life? The Star of Isis, the rescuer and life-giver, the soul of Egypt. Sirius’ annual appearance just before dawn at the summer solstice heralded the coming rise of the Nile, upon which Egyptian agriculture depended. There are meanings under meanings in ancient Egyptian iconography, and we’re just beginning to understand their depth. Certainly Isis/Sirius was a