KARNAK, LUXOR, OPET FESTIVAL, CLEOPETRA
The ancient Egyptians were avid sky watchers. They could give accurate astronomical orientations to their pyramids and temples. The soft rays of the rising sun could enter the temple of Amun-Ra in Karnak, only on the shortest day of the year during Peret. Once in a year, the Pharaoh himself- the chief of the priests, used to lead a procession down the avenue of the sphinx to the temple of Luxor. For more than one and half thousand years this three kilometre long procession of Amun-Ra, his wife Mut and son Khonsu on a bark must have been a marvel to watch. The last time it was Cleopatra with her consort Mark Antony who led the procession during one of their romantic boating reveries along the Nile. During this colourful Opet festival Amun-Ra of Karnak met theAmun of Luxor to commemorate his marriage with Mut.
General Octavius defeated a joint fleet of Cleopatra and Antony at the battle of Actium in 31 B. C. The following year Antony was killed and Cleopatra committed suicide. That brought a sad end of more than three thousand years long Pharaohnic era in Egypt. HELIACAL RISING- SIRIUS
In the planetarium sky, the sun merrily parties around among the stars. As the sun, Amun-Ra, the ultimate god, shifts positions among the stars throughout the year, a star within about thirty degrees of celestial longitude on either side of the sun goes into a long hiding in the sun ' s glow. This happens in the real sky. The star disappears from view for about seventy days before it becomes visible again just before sunrise.
It was the same 70 days the Egyptians took to prepare the mummies for their eternal journeys in after-life. OSIRIS & ISIS
Look at those stars in the sky. All those stars can be joined up to form a human figure- a hunter. The head, the shoulders, the belt, a sword, and the knees- the famous Orion constellation- the hunter a shield in one hand a dagger in another. Orion is the heavenly personification of Osiris, the god of the dead and also the pharaohs ' gateway to the stars. The hunter is followed closely by a dog. The three belt stars lead us straight to east, to the brightest star in the sky. Sirius- the ' dog star.' Here is the canine face, the front paw, the body, the hind legs, and the tail. The ' dog ' makes up the Canis Major constellation. For the Egyptians the ' dog star ' was goddess ' Isis.' She was the goddess of magic, motherhood and fertility. The pharaoh used to be depicted as her child. GIZA PLATEAU
Millions of visitors throughout the throng the Giza plateu to visit the three great pyramids- Khufu, Khfre and Menkaure. Pharaoh Khaufu built this pyramid more than four and half thousand years ago( 2560BC) as his
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